Gigantic glasses for sale?

January 11, 2010 7:57 PM

Help me find big, fashiony eyeglasses?

I love the big, colorful glasses worn by Taylor Swift here. Another view here, in her "You Belong with Me" video. (Don't judge! also just noticed that her eye color apparently changes within in the same video.) Enough people love these glasses that it's strange I can't find similar ones for sale. I've checked zenni optical, among other sites often mentioned on metafilter. Here are the things I like about them in order of importance:

- Large lenses
- Thin Frames, not overwhelming like indie glasses often are
- Fashionable (I guess - they're not just grandparent glasses a hipster would wear ironically. I like that there are no nosepads.)
- Colorful

These fulfill enough of those points above to be appealing, but they're not prescription. I don't want to wear contacts under fake glasses.

I don't really care about cost (at this point.) Any helping finding the perfect pair?

posted by Solon and Thanks to clothing, beauty, & fashion (11 answers total)

I'll also mention I'm myopic, so unfortunately reading glasses won't cut it.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 7:59 PM on January 11, 2010

Gene's Vintage Eyeglasses could have something for you. Like these maybe? Or these? You'd obviously have to have an eyeglass shop put in new lenses, but the frames are cheap.
posted by oinopaponton at 8:07 PM on January 11, 2010

I found these on Ray-ban's site - compared to their other pictures of glasses, I'm thinking these are about the size you want, but I can't be sure.
posted by R a c h e l at 8:11 PM on January 11, 2010

For big colorful glasses (esp. if cost is no object), I like Paul Smith.

Jeanne

Morse

Ruddington

Not all colors/styles are in stock on his site; call your local fashion eyewear shop.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 8:32 PM on January 11, 2010

You could just have prescription lnses put in the Uran Outfitter frames by any optician.
posted by mmf at 8:33 PM on January 11, 2010

Apparently those are actually her own glasses, which she once found in a bargain bin. I'd suggest taking the same route, scouring thrift stores, and then getting lenses made for whatever you find that you like best.

Some options here.

p.s. I kind of love her look throughout most of that video. I approve of any music video where the guy falls for a girl in a periodic table t-shirt!
posted by you're a kitty! at 8:51 PM on January 11, 2010

When I was in your position, I went to my optometrist and hung around their frames section for an hour until finally the lady said "Well, let me just see what we have in the back." Oh! what they were hiding! It was a warehouse of all the big glasses you could ever want. And best of all, they weren't cheap Urban Outfitters crap-glasses, they were living from the 80's. I live in a pretty small city (25,000), so it's not like I live in New York, either. (By the way, I bet it's easier to find these things in small cities.)
Anyway, so there's that.
Oh. If you are really super blind, like me, beware. I have I think a -5.25 in one eye and a -7.25 in the other, and if your lenses get that big, it looks...well...not so good. And they warned me..."the bigger your frames get, the bigger the lenses will be..." but I didn't listen. So that's something to think about. And everything looked all weird and caving round and all distorted; I blame their measuring on that one though.
posted by lhude sing cuccu at 8:52 PM on January 11, 2010

I bought my vintage glasses at an old eyglassstore here in Reykjavík, they found lots of old stuff in their basement and put it out on sale, dirt cheap.

if you find a store like that, you might not find exactly what you're looking for, but you might find something both retro and pretty unique.
posted by svenni at 8:54 PM on January 11, 2010

If Gene's Vintage Glasses ebay store is at all tied to Gene Rogers Optical in Austin (a vintage glasses store will all the frames only seen on the elderly in the 2000s), they will have what you are looking for. And/or if there is a store like that in your city, you will be able to try them on.

You can probably find something similar through American Apparel. I'm not one to shill for them, but I've seen glasses much like the ones you linked on their site.
posted by ishotjr at 11:05 PM on January 11, 2010

If cost doesn't matter, it looks like Retrospecs has a number of a large frames similar-ish to the ones pictured.
posted by CarolynG at 5:08 AM on January 12, 2010

Wow, thanks everyone! Now I have an abundance of glasses to choose from. I think I'm going to try searching some thrift stores (80s styles seem to be the way to go) before I buy anything online.

I'll note that I also stumbled upon these Liz Claiborne glasses that fit the bill, in case anyone else is looking for the same thing.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 12:59 PM on January 12, 2010