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Four-eyes, looking good! Spectacles have come a long way since those playground taunts, writes Rebecca Savory
WOMEN ARE embracing international design and wearing their personalities boldly on their faces with glasses becoming more personal statements than boring necessities, say Tauranga opticians.
Gone are the days of the glasses industry being purely health-based. Glasses are defining people, enhancing their style and becoming an important part of people's "kit", both physically and psychologically.
Stuart Laing, owner of Blur Eyecare on Spring St, says glasses are a way for people to make a statement about themselves.
"You wear your glasses on your face, therefore your eyewear creates a very distinctive and influential statement about who you are. As such it is an important piece of kit to people, both physically and psychologically."
You wear your glasses on your face, therefore your eyewear creates a very distinctive and influential statement about who you are.
People are now owning multiple pairs of glasses for different occasions, changing their look every day and always having a "go-to option if disaster strikes".
"It's nice to have a change of look, otherwise it is the same face every day."
Trends in glasses change slower than most fashion trends; a pair of glasses tend to last a number of fashion seasons, he says.
"If the fit is proportional to the face that the specs reside on, and the colour works with the skin tone and eye colour, the frame will exude a certain timelessness regardless of changing trends."
Frame shapes in the current trend tend to be quite open and with more curve, he says.
"There was a trend towards more prominent chunkier pieces, although now it's beginning to trend a little finer.
"The makers we stock have always used colour extensively and it would be difficult to narrow them down to specifics."
However, he says the final decision will always be based on the fit to a person's face - trends aside.
"If a frame doesn't fit an individual's face it doesn't matter how 'in' the frame is, you will lose the finesse of the fit.
We have developed our own frame-fitting criteria. Forget round face, heart shaped, etc, it is a much more refined art-form than that."
Bay residents are an active bunch and we find people tend to prefer a different pair of glasses for work, play and leisure.
He says it is hard to believe it was against the code of ethics for an optical store to display products in their front window before the mid-1980s.
"Globalisation has helped bring international influences to the New Zealand market, so we now stock eyewear from France, Germany, Denmark, Japan, Hungary, etc.
It's just a maturing of the market place and an industry that has 'grown up'," he says.
Mike Callard of Langford Callard Optometrists says glasses have "very much become a fashion accessory" with all the major fashion names now producing an optical or sunglass range.
"Current trends are back to bolder larger statement frames, and even animal prints are making a comeback on frames."
Lenses are becoming more specialised for specific activities as visual tasks have become more complex, he says.
"The latest discussions in spectacle lens design revolves around lenses designed for the increasingly use of digital devices with blue light filters."
Tinting options can be customised to the user and are important for protecting the eyes and surrounding skin, he says.
However, he agrees the primary fit of a frame is still the most important feature, then ensuring the frame is fit for its purpose.
Max Drennan of Specsavers Tauranga and Glenn Dunkerley of Specsavers Mt Maunganui say that glasses are becoming an integral part of Kiwis' wardrobes and having more than just one pair is a great opportunity to adapt style to suit different moods and occasions.
A recent Specsavers survey found that 85 per cent of Kiwis think prescription eyewear is more of a fashion item now than it was 10 years ago.
Drennan says: "Bay residents are an active bunch and we find people tend to prefer a different pair of glasses for work, play and leisure."
He says glasses have come a long way in terms of fashion.
"With so many options now available on the market, there's no need for glasses to be plain and boring.
People can experiment with different colours, shapes and sizes, and choose glasses depending on their mood or outfit."
Christina Macpherson of Mt Maunganui says she used to be teased for the glasses she now gets admired for.
She was prescribed optical glasses at the age of 10 and says, at that age they were not "cool" and she often got teased.
Now she has multiple pairs for different occasions: black-rimmed and rectangular frames if she is going out; a rounder tortoiseshell pair for everyday wear.
She has learned to own her look and make them a statement part of an outfit, rather than a necessity.
She says the availability of different styles has brought the price down and now people can afford to have options.
"I like to have a couple of pairs so I can have different looks," she says.
"Not being gifted with perfect vision is a disadvantage, but glasses shouldn't also be one - be proud and confident if you're with the specs!"