There was a time when sporting spectacles was booed upon or considered a blotch on your fashion heights. There was nothing more tormenting than ending up with spectacles that took away half the charm from your face. The big tasteless, geeky-looking frames, along with high-powered lenses was a nightmare for those poor souls ending up with one.
“I was someone who began using specs from a very early age. I can still remember vividly how almost every other person found a nickname for me. The most famous and favourite used to be ‘kannadi’. There were times I used to curse my ‘ill-fate’ at having had to wear a glass. I always wanted to get rid of my specs, and was always searching for alternatives,” says Shalini, a PR executive.
This was the situation some 15 to 20 years back. Soon these huge tasteless frames gave way to smaller less jarring ones. There was a steady evolution in the frames that came. The size began to get smaller and smaller. The smaller the frames the more stylish they were. In a rage to do anything and everything to help the poor souls with specs, companies even brought out rimless spectacles. And sure enough there were huge takers for that. The idea of course was to help the people create an illusion of the specs not being there on your face.
“I am a person who has done everything in my power to get rid of those god forsaken glasses. From the oldest model to the sleekest ones, there is nothing I haven’t tried. And finally when I was old enough my parents let me get a laser surgery to correct my vision. I have always hated wearing specs and the whole stigma associated with it. No matter how trends change I will never wear one ever again if I can help it,” says Nandini a government employee.
With time, the fashion trends of the people also changed and unsurprisingly enough sporting spectacles became hip and trendy. Now, it is not just the ones who have vision problems use them but people old and young have started using spectacles as a fashion statement. If they were sleek and thin before, funky loud colours on thick big frames are the current norm.
Apart from changing trends that happen in sunglasses, now eyeglasses that are used for vision problems also have wide variety of options to choose from. “Everybody these days are opting for full-covered models like the sunglasses. They no longer want the sleek and thin types that were so popular till sometime back. Even in the usual rectangular types people opt for frames with thick temples. The changing trends among the youth have a lot to do with the influence of films. Customers come in asking for models they saw their favourite movie star sporting in a particular film or ad,” says manager of Lens and Frames, Kochi.
The new models on demand are mainly broad types such as wayfarer, aviator, broad-round, cat-eye types and so on.
“I am a person who started using eyewear just as a style statement. Though mine is a powerless glass, it is anti-reflection which will help reduce the strain while am working on the PC and laptop. These days everybody loves to sport an eyewear, it is the new fad in our college. Even people without vision problems are often seen sporting funky-looking colourful eyeglasses,” says Shalima, a college student.
“Unlike before there are a lot of options available in the eyeglasses section. The most moving ones in our shop are wayfarer shell frames. They are nothing but plastic frames, which is easier to handle. Certain companies also have eyeglasses with changeable temples/legs in which one will have almost 3 to 4 pairs of changeable legs in funky colours,” says a staff of Lawrence and Mayo, Kochi.
With most of their favourite celebrities sporting spectacles as a style statement and making it the new in-thing most spectacle users are thanking their stars. Now their daily wear can be worn with panache. They no longer have to hide their specs, instead they can flaunt it.
Reethu, an IT professional no longer hides her glasses. “Now I have glasses for every occasion. A formal one for office, a casual wear, one for party and so on. Spectacle shopping has become my favourite pastime of late. At office, we are even provided a reimbursement for the purchase of glasses. As a person who has been using glasses for sometime, I am really happy that even this has become a rage among the youth,” she quips.