A Guide To Shopping For Glasses

Piece by: Harun Momanyi
Lifestyle

Last year Italian luxury fashion house Prada organized a writing competition in which writers were to submit stories answering the question "What are the realities that our eyes give back to us? And how are these realities filtered through lenses?" The competition was hotly contested for. It gave me a unique unthought of perspective of how glasses play a major role in what we see and how we look to others. My thought was what you see is what you get; there isn't a major deviation of looks as seen in lenses – no matter what shade of color one is wearing. But let's admit it, if one wears cool glasses, they look much hotter than they actually are :)

  1. Know the shape of your face: Some glasses make your visage look distorted; they don't match with your facial curves and eye brows. When shopping for cool glasses, try out in front of a mirror to see how you look before taking them home with you.
  2. Choose glasses that rhyme with your personal style: There are different glasses for various events. There are glasses which are perfect for the workplace and others for outing events like Barbeque; this are mainly determined by color and the design. Get hints from your glass store – which should be a reputable outlet.
  3. Consider frame shape: The frame shape should go perfectly well with your visage features. One person who knows how to wear glasses locally is rapper Jay A and internationally is Alicia Keys.
  4. Go for the appropriate lens coatings: This depends on the purpose you intend for the glasses; for leisure outings or sun-screening. Some coatings don't match your skin tone so do not go for them; brown or gold coatings work best with light skinned people and black ones match with darker skins and light skins as well.
  5. Try out as many glasses as possible: his will give you allowance to decide on what makes you feel most comfortable. One of the most valuable fashion assets is having the sense of confidence and belonging. If you can pull various looks and still feel okay in your skin then you're cool.
  6. Type of material: there are three degrees of materials used in making glasses. These are plastic, polycarbonate and high index 1.67. The plastic ones are recommended for economical people; the poly ones are for people who are always up and about – like children and athletes. The high index glasses, which are the thinnest and toughest are for people who are into high fashion and are attentive to detail.