Wherefore art thou, sunglasses?

September 12, 2009 9:36 AM

I broke my boyfriend's sunglasses while wrestling (no, really). I'm looking for another pair; shape is more important than color.

They were purchased at Rag-o-Rama, which is basically the same as Buffalo Exchange or maybe Plato's Closet for hipsters. We no longer live anywhere near Rag, and I'll be sneaking off to sleuth out the local (Lakeview Chicago) resale shops, but I KNOW I've seen glasses like this online.

I've already checked every embarrassing store I can think of that sells cheap accessories for teenagers...Fred Flare, Delia*s, Pac Sun, Wet Seal, Hot Topic, F21, Target...if you can think of stores that sell cheap trendy sunglasses but are too lazy to check their stock, just mention the name.

These are pretty close, but seem too small. These are better, but his only other pair of sunglasses (which he doesn't like as much as the ones I broke, of course) are pink.

They're not Wayfarers. A replacement doesn't have to be exact, but he likes the fact they're larger and rounder than Wayfs, not too girly, and are brightly colored with dark (not mirrored, not clear) lenses. It seems like I saw this style everywhere UNTIL I HAD TO FIND IT, so if you know how to describe the frames, plz do tell kthx.

posted by Juliet Banana to clothing, beauty, & fashion (13 comments total)

What's your price range, JB?
posted by ocherdraco at 9:48 AM on September 12

I'm willing to pay a little more than they're worth if they are a perfect match, but these are not some UV tested Oakleys or whatever; they're cheap plastic glasses. So, maybe $30 as the absolute limit?
posted by Juliet Banana at 9:50 AM on September 12

Urban Outfitters?
posted by kylej at 10:14 AM on September 12

Here's a link to their men's sunglasses by price.
posted by kylej at 10:18 AM on September 12

Your first link I would describe as being in the style of Oakley Frogskins. Due to the incredible surge of popularity of this framestyle among the hip community over the last few years, I'm told Oakley has started producing it again, and that link on the Oakley site seems to bear that out. Anyway, there are countless knockoffs of these in different sizes and colors. Perhaps being able to use "frogskins" as a search term will help you find something like what you are looking for.
posted by jeb at 10:21 AM on September 12

Have you looked in the local dollar store? I seem to remember seeing really ugly sunglasses like that the last time I was in one not too long ago.
posted by theichibun at 10:30 AM on September 12 [2 favorites]

Here are a few styles from Giant Vintage, all within your price range:

Dylan
Ski School
Safari
Poolside
Tambi
A Plus
Busby
Schoolboy
Squaresville
posted by ocherdraco at 10:41 AM on September 12

Actually, just flip through their men's styles section—they have many more options that are similar.
posted by ocherdraco at 10:45 AM on September 12

Maybe something like this at Pacsun?
posted by QueenHawkeye at 11:01 AM on September 12

Speaking of cheap embarrassing teenybopper accessory stores: didja check Claire's? I was in a Claire's last week and they had eight zillion pairs of loud wacky sunglasses - I'm not sure if any of them would match exactly, but I think it might be a good bet.

Their website sucks and doesn't offer online shopping, so I can't confirm or deny that they carry those sunglasses, but there is a big Claire's on State Street just north of Madison which should be super easy to get to, and near a whole bunch of other stores that might carry similar sunglasses (Filene's Basement, Charlotte Russe, H&M, etc, etc). My apologies if you've already checked there. And I totally believe you about the wrestling.
posted by Metroid Baby at 11:24 AM on September 12

You know you can get glasses repaired, right? Google "eye glasses repair". It would probably be 10-30 but might be worth it. If they can weld titanium, they can handle plastic.
posted by shownomercy at 11:42 AM on September 12

How about these on eBay? The seller is based in the UK but ships worldwide.
posted by essexjan at 12:12 PM on September 12

Maybe this orange pair - the lenses don't seem as huge but they're nearly the same shape and don't have anything weird going on with the lenses.
posted by clerestory at 12:23 PM on September 12