Making a Spectacle of Yourself - How Glasses Have Star Quality

  • Added:
    Apr 02, 2013
  • Article Views:
    2161
  • Word Count:
    526
shopping mall on a january monday (365-17)
shopping mall on a january monday (365-17)
Photo by Robert Couse-Baker

Four eyes! Specky! We’ve all heard the playground jibes. We’ve all seen the cheesy movies too where the mousy secretary suddenly becomes beautiful when she takes her glasses off. But hold on a second; why do we have this negative view of spectacle wearers? Where are all the positive role models? Where are the heroic symbols in specs? Actually, if you start think about it there are more than you might imagine as glasses can be a distinctive feature of a personality or just used for effect. This blog will explore a few examples of how the simple pair of glasses has real star quality.

Comedy Gold

Glasses have long been used as a comedy prop to great effect. Think how the great Eric Morecambe could get a laugh just by moving his spectacles. Would Dad’s Army’s Captain Mainwaring have been as funny without his glasses knocked askew in some scuffle?

For those with a longer memory comedians from Groucho Marx through to Harry Worth and Eric Sykes have all been instantly recognisable thanks to their glasses. More recently comedian Sean Lock has a whole routine about wearing them.

Women aren’t exempt from all this as Su Pollard and Mrs Merton both wore glasses to good comic effect and of course stand-up comedian Sarah Millican wears them too.

The Film Star Look

There is also plenty of spectacle wearing examples in the world of film, one of the most recent being Harry Potter. Even going back to the 1960s, Michael Caine as Harry Palmer in The Ipcress File wore distinctive spectacles.

Of course you don’t have to be called Harry to wear glasses in films and Woody Allen is a good example. Furthermore, Clark Kent of course sheds his specs to become Superman, which means there must surely be a vacancy for a superhero in bifocal reading glasses: a librarian perhaps.

Plenty of female stars including Jennifer Aniston, Lindsay Lohan and Julia Roberts have shown it is possible to look good in spectacles too.

Glasses in music

If popular music is more your thing, then you’ll be glad to hear that glasses also dominate the world of music too. John Lennon springs to mind as does Buddy Holly. Interestingly Hank Marvin’s glasses are almost as famous as his guitar and it’s impossible to imagine Roy Orbison without his tinted specs. Elton John’s flamboyant frames are legendary and more recent stars have made glasses cool such as Elvis Costello and Jarvis Cocker.

Older readers may remember Greek singing star Nana Mouskouri with her distinctive, chunky glasses yet a more recent female star to sport the glasses look is Tori Amos.

Whether you’re a star or not, glasses can be fun and fashionable and because of their link with certain famous faces, they in their own right have become in some cases, almost as famous as the actual artist or actor. The right pair of glasses really can set of an outfit and make you instantly recognisable so it is vital that you take your time when choosing a pair to suit you.

If you’re looking for affordable and stylish reading glasses UK websites offer a good choice of styles. Get online to find that perfect pair and create a spectacle.

Author's Profile

Linda Nicks is a frequent contributor for About Eyes and has written many articles pertaining to all things regarding fashion and designer eyewear, designer reading glasses and accessories, especially on such subjects as the elements of fun, fashion and glamour in the readers industry.


Please Rate this Article
Poor Excellent