It’s summertime, do you love your shades? Do they communicate who you are? Do you feel like a million bucks when you put them on?
If not, you should and you can!
Honestly, It’s tough. So many of my clients struggle with eyewear; whether it’s shades, readers or prescription glasses.
So let’s dig in and learn how to weed through the options and make the best choice for you!
I invented an acronym which I think will help: GETSPECS:
Go Up
We need to fight gravity as we age. So your #1 rule is look for glasses with something in the outer-upper corners that creates lift. Cat eye’s are currently on trend if you love them that’s a great solution or you can look for chunky plastic frames with a wider corners on top. You can also look for glasses with embellishments. Anything that adds lift is great.
Equal Distant
Your PD or Pupil Distance is an important measurement. Not only is this important technically but it also looks best when your eyes are centers in the lens. Maybe you know whether you have wide or narrow eyes. To find out, measure your eye width. Could you place a third eye over the bridge of your nose? If so your eyes are neither wide nor narrow. If you have wider eyes you should buy wider frames.
If your eyes are narrow then narrow frames are right for you.
Stores like Warby Parker have their inventory laid out in this manner to help you avoid this mistake.
Temples
The temples of eyewear should not touch your face, but there should not be more than a finger’s width between the temple and your face.
Shape
This is a big one and often the main thing people talk about when determining what eyewear is right for each individual. The concept is the shape of the frames should mimic your face shape. It is a basic rule in art called repeating patterns or relatedness. Our subconscious mind looks for things it sees. If you have blue eyes and wear the color blue, for example, it will bring attention to your eyes. If you have a circular pendent on and also wore polka dots, this will feel harmonious to the viewer. And if you have a square shaped face angular glasses will feel congruent. So the basic idea is oval shaped face – oval shaped glasses, circular shaped face – circular glasses, etc.
Personal Brand
If you know me at all you know I always start by helping my clients discover their personal brand. How you look, your clothes, accessories and your eyewear communicate who you are. How you look is your most powerful communication tool. Pick eyewear that fits with that:
The best pair of glasses can elevate an outfit or send the wrong message if you don’t know what your brand is. Do you want something that is edgy, sophisticated, modern, or feminine? The extreme cat eyes are trendy right now. They can be nostalgic and classic on some but forward-thinking on others. Both of these women are wearing extreme cat eyes which appear to fit their personal brand:
Eyebrows
Make sure your frame mimics your eyebrow shape or covers them all together. This is one thing that is often overlooked.
Color
Your frames should complement your complexion: Warm skin and hair = warm frames. Cool skin and hair = cool frames. Just follow the rules of the color wheel. Is your hair honey blonde or brown? Does your skin have yellow undertones? Then you are warm. If you have gray hair, ash blonde hair, black hair and pink undertones. You are cool.Scale
Keep your scale in mind. If you are small you will not want to overwhelm your face with large-scale sunglasses and if you are larger you should indeed consider a statement pair that is right for your stature. Even if big is in, there is big and there is too big.
Accessorizing with glasses all year is a fun way to express yourself, especially with your shades in the summer months.
Have fun with it and use GETSPECS to make good decisions so you show up feeling your personal best all day every day.
