The Evolution of the Spectacle
I’ve been wearing specs since I was 8 years old, and yesterday I got what must be my 10th or 12th pair of frames. I hunted through my drawers but could only find a couple of my old pairs to line up for this photo. My brand new pair is at the bottom.
I kind of wish I’d hung onto the entire spectacle archive, as choosing a new pair is always such a fraught undertaking, and often coincides with other changes in my life.
I remember the horror, as a very short-sighted 15 year old, of picking up my new frames, which had looked so hip and cool when I peered at myself, inches away from the optomitrest’s mirror, but once my thick bottle-bottom lenses had been installed, made me look like just the loveless nerd I knew I was. My parents were merciful enough to put me out of my teenage misery not long after with a pair of contact lenses.
Also missing from this archive is the pair of specs with dried blood between the lenses and frames. I’ve always had a bit of a horror of being in dangerous situation and losing my glasses. The day when a car hit me from behind, smashing my head through the windscreen, and landing the bleeding me on the laps of the driver and passenger, my glasses did come off, but they landed on my chest, unbroken, so I was able to survey the extent of my mangledness with perfect clarity.
Missing, too, are the frames I bought in Singapore airport, with uncharacteristic decisiveness, as well as my tortoiseshell pair from the ’80s, which would (I like to imagine) be awfully hip these days.
Included in this lineup is one pair of specs that never made it onto my face in a serious way – the result of a rash internet purchase. My decision to buy the vintage Dutch frames second from the bottom, was based on having Photoshopped the frames onto a photo of my face, as well as some encouragement from Twitter friends. I won’t be doing that again soon.
Anyway, in commemoration of all my glasses along the way, and my lifetime of peering dubiously at myself while trying to pick my latest fashionable prosthetic device, I made this little eye chart illustration:
Janne
Love it! And it reminds me… Have you seen this?: http://www.gallerybobbin.com/index.php/ltd-prints/the-way-i-see-the-world.html
Athol
Your stylish glasses are so much hipper than your teenage pair. I was horrified when I discovered one of my early pair of PW Botha style tv shaped glasses in the back of a bottom drawer. How could the folks have done that to me? I still recal the optometrist telling mom that they were very fasionable – yes, if you were a Nat pollie in a dark suit and hat. Talking of which, PW’s old official hats could possibly be quite fashionable right now.
mariana Saturnino
you’re just too cool 😀
Louise
Spectac(u)le(r) Vision
helen:)
Awesome!!! The new pair looks super sleek!
and… I too made the mistake of purchasing a vintage pair on the internet (yes, photoshopped it onto my face and thought – this would be great)…. and, oh, things sure don’t work this way with glasses… but, I learned:)
Am thinking of going through my stash of glasses and doing a suspect line up:)
katiecrackernuts
I keep my specs now because I find I come back to a similar style. I have quite a collection now and have added op shop finds to them. I’ve had my optometrist fit my lenses to glasses bought at op shops with no problems. In fact, my fav specs were $2 from an op shop.
Rose
This is such a cool article. I think that your latest pair have an almost subtle organic cat-eye shape to them that makes them so appealing. That accident you speak of sounds horrific but it seems that you did not hurt yourself too badly. This talk on specs is so current for me – the whole vintage revival trend brought back the memory of my own pair of vintage glasses ( real fancy cat’s eye shaped frames that were true 1950’s style). Sounds great, with one problem. Mom wore them in the late 50’s and when I was 9 yrs old, my dad decided to whip them out and recycle for my use. Today I would kill for those frames, but back then they were nothing but a source of embarrassment for me. DADS!!!!
Anne
Brilliant post and poster! I am heading for my first pair…welcome to the 40’s! Finding funky glasses that fit my narrow face has turned out to be seriously daunting… hopefully your eye chart will help 🙂
JP
You photoshopped them on to a pic of yourself? Hahaha…too funny 🙂
Cecilia
I’ve worn glasses since I was 10 and have never been able to wear contact lenses. I keep only the previous pair in case of emergency and donate the other back to Specsavers as they distribute them to less fortunate. Oo, those 80’s tortoiseshell frames…
Ana
I used glasses all my life until I hit the laser eye surgeon’s table (best decision ever!). I have several very round frames (hello, nineties) kept in drawers somewhere, but I dare not show my collection!
Jo Brown
i love the specs chart, most (non-spec-wearing) people don’t realise how hard it is to choose when you can’t actually see yourself in the mirror!
sunny
oh my..that’s so very creative and pretty! My first pair of glasses in 1985 were very large round frames that were red. Not very flattering or pretty! For fun this year I bought some deep pink glasses and some blue ones….for $10 USD. http://www.zennioptical.com I bought mine for fun thinking if I didn’t like them, it wasn’t like spending $200USD on them but they’re fun. they’re pink!