I'm looking for a new pair of glasses and drawing a blank.
The reason I'm looking is, although I have contact lenses, I can't always be arsed to fiddle around with them before going out. I'm a big fan of the black rimmed NHS specs - nothing fancy - just big clunky trustworthies. I thought I'd got it right last year when I opted for Specsavers specs but although they're black rimmed, they're not quite right. There's something about the slightly south-leaning corners that are inauthentic.
I tried Optical Express and they were too flash (I hate Chanel and Dior symbols and what is it with arm designs in general? They're dreadful). I then hit upon the idea of trying Urban Outfitters for frames but they were pretentious, Shoreditch-style oversized monsters. And friends of mine on Twitter have visual evidence of me not even trying to pull these off.
Anyway, this made me pontificate on how glasses have changed over the years, and I've compiled a potted history of our favourite four-eyed figures over the decades:
Arthur Askey started off in the 1930s, where he appeared on an early form of BBC television. Askey had to be heavily made up for his face to be recognisable at such low resolution. When television cranked up a bit, Askey was a regular performer in variety shows. He went on to appear in some Gainsborough films and he finished off as a Paul Whitehouse incantation.
Glasses were a bit pointy in the late 50s and early 60s for many women. Dandy Nichols who started her career in 1947's Hue and Cry was more famous for playing Alf Garnett's eye-rolling wife.
BBC Parliament followers (especially a few Fridays ago when they screened the Feb 1974 elections) will have been swooning over David Butler's bins. This screengrab is actually taken from 1979 though, where he wore a better quality frame.
Mark Curry was gracing our screens pretty much at the same time NHS prescription glasses were going down the shitter (:-(). He represented a new wave of glamour and possibilities in the realm of primary coloured frames in outsizes.
Meanwhile, if anybody knows how I can get hold of a pair of NHS specs anywhere other than Ebay (I just can't get along with that place) then please do let me know.
I'm looking for something like this:
Glasses Direct. That's where I got my current pair. They do two horn-rimmed styles - Mai Tai and Cosmopolitan. Opera Opera are good too, but far more expensive.
ReplyDeleteYou want to pay a visit to Antix (I think) in Camden Market Stables. It's a shop devoted to vintage frames - and lots of them. Just what you're looking for.
ReplyDeleteAh brilliant, thanks both. Next time you see me, I'll wear them especially.
ReplyDeleteFC - I'd be wary of genuine vintage frames, just because they might be rather fragile. Also, expensive. I think my specs were under £50 including lenses - they had a special offer on. They were called Ronnie frames then, but a mate's got Mai Tais and they're identical in every detail. I think Cosmopolitan is closer to what Suzy wants - more NHS, less BBC LE. What I'd really like is my current pair with clear frames - a la Jonathan Meades.
ReplyDeleteAfter some deliberating I've ordered the Black Mai Tais. I think you're right Louis, the clunkier ones were fantastic but I wanted the hinge marks at the front and they're closest to the pic I put on my post. I got a 2 for 1 deal. £59.
ReplyDelete2 pairs the same or did you go for something else?
ReplyDeleteI went for 2 pairs of the same. I'd rather not confuse myself with a choice of colours and styles. Besides, I know what I bloody well like. Why meddle with a classic? The whole 2 for 1 offer trend is a bit of a hollow offering though. I've never once lost or broken a pair.
ReplyDeleteI had a pair snap clean in half across the bridge, with no pressure put on them whatsoever. I have also lost a pair to the dog's teeth when she was a pup, and a pair when I threw myself into the North Sea bodily without remembering to remove them.
ReplyDeletemany old fashioned styles all hand made in this here country. and they do do the above pictured type.. i think they may call them a "phillip".
ReplyDeletethere's a pic on another of your blogs with triumph teeshirt, looking crap but the glasses there are "phillip" ones but with clear unders, if you get what i mean. you can get the solid versh too.
look
http://www.welovelocal.com/en/london/camden/covent-garden/opticians/opera-opera-opticians-wc2e9nr.html
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ReplyDeleteI only have the one blog Graham (this one). I think you may mean a friend Tim's blog? Louis above pointed out Opera Opera and I took a look but I was feeling a bit too tight to splash out and plumped for good old Glasses Direct. For some reason it hadn't occurred to me to shop for glasses online.
ReplyDeleteThe ones you were wearing in the pic suit you! Perhaps a bit masculine for me though.
Last time I had an eye test, I called in at one of the high street chains. "Do you have anything other than small oblong glasses?" I asked. "No sir. There's no call for any other style," said the assistant. "There is. I'm calling for them now," I replied. "We tried some other styles, but they didn't sell, sir," the assistant countered. "Were they horrible and were they hidden at the back of the shop behind all of the fecky wee oblong ones?" I asked? "Erm," came the reply. I then went and bought my specs online. Opera Opera are wonderful. I used to pass the shop a lot when they were on Tottenham Court Road. However, Glasses Direct came out at about 1/4 of the price. Doubtless made with the purest sweat of oppressed people, although mine claim to be Swedish, and I'm not sure how many oppressed Swedes there are. Graham - nice to know I don't have to add you to my list of unpleasant people whose work I love. I always had you down as a good egg.
ReplyDeleteWith you all the way on the thrift front Louis. Even if I were as stinky rich as Gra C, I think I'd still plump for Glasses Direct. They were ready in 2 days. I ordered them online on Mon eve and I got back from college today, and there they were.
ReplyDeleteIf I'd got rich in my early 20s I'd be a different shopper, but it's so ingrained in me now, I'll always be the same I expect.