One of the biggest gripes we hear from patients isn't the inconvenience of wearing glasses, but that prescription glasses often cost upwards of a few hundred dollars, making it hard to afford different spectacles to suit various outfits and occasions, much less keep up with seasonal trends.
Fortunately, there are evergreen styles that never go out of fashion, and are good-looking enough to stand out no matter what you're wearing or where you are. Get your prescription in any of these frames, and you'll never have to worry about going out of style.
Cat-eyes first purred onto the scene in the 1950s and made its comeback in a big way when singer Lisa Loeb sported them at the height of her popularity in the early 1990s. It's no coincidence she now owns her own line of cat-eye-inspired frames! Best suited for diamond and inverted triangular face shapes, it quickly became the everygirl's defining style-nerd chic laced with a cheekily feline feminine mystique. Now that the style is also in Tina Fey's eyeglass rotation, the cat-eye is out of the bag, to stay.
Cat-Eye Eye-cons: Lisa Loeb, Marilyn Monroe, Dame Edna Average
Eye Candy: Cake & Pie in Espresso by Lisa Loeb Eyewear ($189)
Great for square and rectangular faces, perfect circles were historically the de rigeur shape for eyeglasses before edging techniques got sophisticated enough to cut lenses into different shapes. Widespread photos of Mahatma Gandhi with his wire-rimmed perfect circles in the early 20th century made the style synonymous with peace, compassion, wisdom, determination and independence. If you need any further evidence of this shape's long-lasting style, l.a. Eyeworks has been crafting and updating its Bodhi frame in various materials and colors for the last 20 years—it has always been one of the line's hottest models.
Perfect Circle Eye-cons: Mahatma Gandhi, John Lennon, Harry Potter
Eye Candy: Bodhi 2 in Charcoal by l.a. Eyeworks ($395)
As long as geek chic continues to rave on the runways, the black Buddy Holly clunkers will always embody cool looks that go beyond boring contact lenses. Once relegated onto the faces of the fashion sense-less and bookworms, the recent Ray-Ban Wayfarer revival has injected a surge of hipster pride into its signature black acetate frames, and leading eyewear designers are producing their own tributes to the rock & roll legend, driven by the spirit of individualism.
Buddy Holly Eye-cons: Buddy Holly, Drew Carey, Elvis Costello
Eye Candy: NEBB in Black by MOSCOT Originals ($225)More »
Originally conceived as a means to minimize the presence of eyeglasses on one's face, rimless frames now represent a timeless look that can go anywhere from serious to sparkling on the image spectrum, while letting the wearer's personality shine through. With today's edging technology, you can customize the shape of your lenses however you like—we've had customers go for hearts and even stars!—and some designers choose to focus on prettying up the temples to complement a more simple frame front.
Rimless Eye-cons: Sarah Palin, Steve Jobs
Eye Candy: Light Attraction 4283 in color 6051 by Silhouette ($230)
If you could only have one pair of sunglasses, aviators are the way to go. Ever since General Douglas MacArthur was photographed wearing Ray-Ban Aviators during World War II, what was once developed by the brand in 1936 to protect pilots' eyes while flying is now as much a part of pop culture (CHiPs, anyone?) as it is of any wardrobe. Whether it's Tom Cruise taking to the skies in them in Top Gun or Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu wearing glammed up versions in Charlie's Angels, they're unisex and appear in almost every eyewear collection each season.
Aviator Eye-cons: Any celebrity on- or off-screen, on- or off-stage, usually hiding from paparazzi
Eye Candy: Aviator by Ray-Ban in Arista ($145)
Fortunately, there are evergreen styles that never go out of fashion, and are good-looking enough to stand out no matter what you're wearing or where you are. Get your prescription in any of these frames, and you'll never have to worry about going out of style.
Cat-Eye
Cat-eyes first purred onto the scene in the 1950s and made its comeback in a big way when singer Lisa Loeb sported them at the height of her popularity in the early 1990s. It's no coincidence she now owns her own line of cat-eye-inspired frames! Best suited for diamond and inverted triangular face shapes, it quickly became the everygirl's defining style-nerd chic laced with a cheekily feline feminine mystique. Now that the style is also in Tina Fey's eyeglass rotation, the cat-eye is out of the bag, to stay.
Cat-Eye Eye-cons: Lisa Loeb, Marilyn Monroe, Dame Edna Average
Eye Candy: Cake & Pie in Espresso by Lisa Loeb Eyewear ($189)
Perfect Circles
Great for square and rectangular faces, perfect circles were historically the de rigeur shape for eyeglasses before edging techniques got sophisticated enough to cut lenses into different shapes. Widespread photos of Mahatma Gandhi with his wire-rimmed perfect circles in the early 20th century made the style synonymous with peace, compassion, wisdom, determination and independence. If you need any further evidence of this shape's long-lasting style, l.a. Eyeworks has been crafting and updating its Bodhi frame in various materials and colors for the last 20 years—it has always been one of the line's hottest models.
Perfect Circle Eye-cons: Mahatma Gandhi, John Lennon, Harry Potter
Eye Candy: Bodhi 2 in Charcoal by l.a. Eyeworks ($395)
Buddy Holly
As long as geek chic continues to rave on the runways, the black Buddy Holly clunkers will always embody cool looks that go beyond boring contact lenses. Once relegated onto the faces of the fashion sense-less and bookworms, the recent Ray-Ban Wayfarer revival has injected a surge of hipster pride into its signature black acetate frames, and leading eyewear designers are producing their own tributes to the rock & roll legend, driven by the spirit of individualism.
Buddy Holly Eye-cons: Buddy Holly, Drew Carey, Elvis Costello
Eye Candy: NEBB in Black by MOSCOT Originals ($225)More »
Rimless
Originally conceived as a means to minimize the presence of eyeglasses on one's face, rimless frames now represent a timeless look that can go anywhere from serious to sparkling on the image spectrum, while letting the wearer's personality shine through. With today's edging technology, you can customize the shape of your lenses however you like—we've had customers go for hearts and even stars!—and some designers choose to focus on prettying up the temples to complement a more simple frame front.
Rimless Eye-cons: Sarah Palin, Steve Jobs
Eye Candy: Light Attraction 4283 in color 6051 by Silhouette ($230)
Aviator
If you could only have one pair of sunglasses, aviators are the way to go. Ever since General Douglas MacArthur was photographed wearing Ray-Ban Aviators during World War II, what was once developed by the brand in 1936 to protect pilots' eyes while flying is now as much a part of pop culture (CHiPs, anyone?) as it is of any wardrobe. Whether it's Tom Cruise taking to the skies in them in Top Gun or Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu wearing glammed up versions in Charlie's Angels, they're unisex and appear in almost every eyewear collection each season.
Aviator Eye-cons: Any celebrity on- or off-screen, on- or off-stage, usually hiding from paparazzi
Eye Candy: Aviator by Ray-Ban in Arista ($145)
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