Help me find glasses that flatter my face.

September 29, 2011 4:51 PM

[FashionFilter] Help me find glasses that flatter my face.

Since I heard of Zenni Optical, I've meant to order a selection of frames and experiment with what I like. Problem is, I hate shopping for anything. That's where y'all come in! I'd love suggestions as to specific frames (or detailed descriptions of features) that I should look for. I'm going for regular and sunglasses - I assume for sunglasses, I'll also have to pick a tint?

Relevant details:
* Pictures! me with my old glasses, current glasses, sunglasses, and no glasses
* Day-to-day I'll wear T-shirts and jeans/slacks, occasionally a button-down shirt
* My nicer clothes are in black/jewel tones
* I have a nice selection of earrings, but I feel like dangly earrings + prominent glasses is a bit much, so I haven't been wearing them much recently
* I'm probably not going to go with really thick frames or super huge lenses that touch my cheeks. Other than that, I'm reasonably adventurous.

posted by Metasyntactic to clothing, beauty, & fashion (13 answers total)

Someone has to say it. Check out some Tina Fey glasses.
posted by 4ster at 5:09 PM on September 29, 2011

Okay, I know it's not Zenni Optical, but have you heard of Warby Parker? They tend toward thick hipster glasses, but have subtler options, are pretty affordable, and have a great free no-commitment try-at-home option (so, *cough*, you could theoretically use them to narrow down the general frame shape that looks best on you, return them all and head over to Zenni). I have these and they're great.
posted by oinopaponton at 5:15 PM on September 29, 2011 [3 favorites]

No need to stick to Zenni ... I'm just attracted to (and kind of boggled by) the idea of glasses being cheap enough to qualify as an accessory on a grad student budget, rather than a once-every-2-years purchase.
posted by Metasyntactic at 5:25 PM on September 29, 2011

Seconding the suggestion for Warby Parker! I figured I'd get a range of frames so I could get a handle on which measurements looked best on my face, and then potentially take that information elsewhere. But I was too lazy to do much comparison shopping and got these. I love them.

They also have a tool where you can upload a picture and see what the glasses look like pasted on over your face. I ordinarily think that kind of thing is useless, but this experiment makes me think their "web try-on" tool is actually pretty useful if you want to try out some different frame styles RIGHT NOW and you can't wait for the mail.
posted by adiabat at 5:30 PM on September 29, 2011

I think these would look great on you! (They're basically the same style adiabat links to above but only ten bucks)
posted by jabes at 6:00 PM on September 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

I was going to say Warby Parker, but it looks like I'm late. Probably not Zenni-level cheap, but stylish, easy to try on at home (!), and WAY cheaper than wherever you usually buy glasses.
posted by willpie at 6:21 PM on September 29, 2011

I'd suggest you go for some larger/wider frames. As much as I don't want to recommend "hipster glasses", I think you'd benefit from them.

Maybe take someone along whose taste you admire, picking out/judging which frames look good can be really tough.
posted by Sphinx at 7:56 PM on September 29, 2011

I think these would look great on you! (They're basically the same style adiabat links to above but only ten bucks)
posted by jabes at 9:00 PM on September 29 [1 favorite −] Favorite added! [!]

I wore that exact style for two years and I loved them. All my glasses are from Zenni now. If you stick to similar styles (or are willing to risk a few bucks,now and again) you can have a nice wardrobe.

I have six pairs of glasses, total, now, and I wear three of them on a regular basis.
posted by SuzySmith at 8:04 PM on September 29, 2011

Sphinx - can give me an example of what you mean by hipster glasses?

(Pretty much all of my friends know/care even less about fashion than I do, so I'm kinda stuck there.)
posted by Metasyntactic at 8:45 PM on September 29, 2011

I would also say slightly wider (across the face) than what you have in your pictures.

I just took a glimpse at Warby Parker and pretty much everything on there looks like "hipster glasses" to me.

I've ordered a lot from Zenni and recently used their virtual try on. It wasn't spot on, but it at least gives you a sense. At $10 it's not a huge investment (and I gasp in horror at the pricers $40 frames, though really, that is still super cheap compared to the $200 Pearle Vision glasses I just had to shell out for [and that was with insurance!]).
posted by misanthropicsarah at 10:19 PM on September 29, 2011

So I know you hate shopping but hear me out on this one. Go and actually try on a bunch of sun glasses in a shop. The last time I bought sun glasses it was the first really nice, sunny weekend in spring and there were many people in the same department store having the same idea, crowding around the swivelling racks with sun glasses. It was difficult to get anywhere near the silly little mirrors they put at the tope of the racks hence you may find it helpful to take a hand held one with you. high mirrors at the top of the rack of sun glasses to get a look at myself. Be sure to try on styles you do not actually think will work, styles you would never normally consider, styles you actually dislike and styles you think work only for other people. Be sure to have your down, as well as away from your face - see how a style works for both. And be prepared to dedicate time to this - at least 15-20 minutes, perhaps up to half an hr.

And be surprised. I came away with a pair of shades that I would have never expected to work on the shelf and lots of people have complimented me on them. Don't buy any - just use this exercise to work out what shapes and sizes actually works for you and then search a similar pair online and pay a lot less.

Do the same with normal glasses. Perhaps on another day.

You may be horrified by the idea to spend a lot of time on this but consider that you probably wear your glasses regularly/all the time and change them infrequently. So it is worth spending time to get this right.
posted by koahiatamadl at 2:24 AM on September 30, 2011

sorry - should have deleted "high mirrors....myself"........
posted by koahiatamadl at 2:26 AM on September 30, 2011

Thanks guys!

I've got a number of frames picked out (including the one recommended by suzysmith and jabes) - and Zenni is cheap enough that it's fine if half of them wind up being awful.

I know that glasses are something that is best shopped for in person ... I have no problem with idle window shopping, but it feels wrong to me to use a store's inventory to narrow down my selection without any intention of giving them my business.
posted by Metasyntactic at 8:49 PM on September 30, 2011