How to make your glasses cool — throw them in the bin

When a fresh piece of clothing or accessory is suddenly labelled ‘cool’ by the fashion police, it’s usually swiftly picked up by alternative, fringe groups before just as quickly being thrown out in disgust when it hits the mainstream.

But what about when it happens the other way around — when a product that’s been around for decades, even centuries, is suddenly crowned cool and adopted by niche fashion circles?

The universe doesn’t implode. But you do get an unusual situation in which normally not-particularly-fashion-conscious folk become super trendy. It doesn’t often happen, not least for big groups of people (you can bet carpenters were pretty confused when dungarees took off). So when it does, and the item in question isn’t, in fact, a garment of clothing, but a medical aid, you can expect things will get a little weird.

In the beginning, seeing some models on the cover of the big style magazines wearing vision correction equipment isn’t so bad — it’s kind of satisfying and good for morale. But when the idea seeps into the real world and explodes into a full-blown fashion trend, sure enough, it becomes a victim of the fickle cycle of coolness.

Fast forward through fifty years of film, media, and pop culture influence, and now you’ve got thousands of clone-like hipsters and cutesy geeks round in pairs of black oversized rims in a bid to look ‘cool’. But the chance of that ever happening died long ago. The trend is way too ubiquitous to be in any way considered attractive or impressive.

Plus, wearing a t-shirt that’s two sizes too big for you is one thing, but when you adorn a piece of medical hardware that you have no functional use for, well, you’ve crossed over into the unforgivable realm of explicit vanity.

So, today, glasses are sitting up there with fedoras, bow ties, mini skirts, wearing sunglasses indoors, and skyscraper stilettos — all cult icons of times gone by that are today symbols of the desperate and trying-too-hard fashionista. See someone in a pair, and you don’t immediately think chic or impaired vision, but that they’re using them for some other hidden motive.

For starters, they obscure a person’s face, drawing attention to the glasses and away from who’s behind them. Why? They could be trying to look older and smarter than they really are. Or to be taken more seriously, which inevitably fails, as they’re a sure sign of underlying insecurities. And if the person is older, you instantly think they’re trying to youthify their appearance — to be ‘down with the kids’ and stay relevant.

But most likely their glasses fetish is because they feel so visually or personally inferior — and short on fashion ideas — that they’ve simply taken the easy option of sticking a garish sculpture on their face rather than to try and enhance their natural features.

Of course, if you want to look your best and be taken seriously, you don’t need to wear some face-obscuring contraption — anyone can do that. Learning to display your personal beauty tastefully is a skill that takes effort and time to master, but one that once you do, is infinitely more satisfying than popping on any pair of frames.

Get rid of the eyewear and book a Laser Eye Surgery consultation today with one of our Patient Care Coordinators.