It is undeniable that Tom Ford has raised the bar for men’s fashion and good taste. His years at Gucci only confirmed the creative and commercial genius that emerged with his own Tom Ford label. That Mr Ford has moved so elegantly from fashion to cosmetics and fragrances to competent film making was no surprise for those of us who got used to his outstanding talent and financial acumen.
tomford.com
One of the things that I particularly appreciate in the current Tom Ford label is the way in which they made prescription glasses sexy and fashionable. This revival of the importance of eyewear was due for a couple of decades and Tom Ford’s designs have reinvigorated fashionable spectacles worldwide with the same good taste brought to the many lines of fashion and fragrances.
For the last couple of years it has become impossible to avoid the masses of thick, dark-coloured acetate glasses in any gathering of creatives, from meetings between architects and clients, fashion designers and pattern cutters, and across editorial boards in most lifestyle magazines. If I often tend to criticise the ways in which creatives embrace trends and become clones of some sort of official good taste, with such impressive choices by labels like Tom Ford, Paul Smith, Karl Lagerfeld, Booth and Bruce, and Oliver Peoples, I don’t blame this surge in showcasing beautiful prescription glasses to the face.
In order to make my research official, over the last few weeks I surveyed a few men who I used to see on my way to work, at my regular coffee shop, the gym, etc. What they had in common was that their glasses were new and they were all incredibly proud of wearing them. They didn’t mention it, but I am sure that advertising campaigns that relied on displaying nude models and more flesh than eyewear played a part in their choices.
It seems as if prescription eyewear became preferable to contact lenses or optical surgery, and became to the contemporary man what the fan was to pre-revolution French courtesans: a way to hide a multitude of sinful gazes beneath something that could be easily dropped to reveal the truth. This made me wonder if the hordes of stylish men in skinny jeans with turn ups parading Paris’s Colette, London’s Dover Street Market or New York’s Barneys are actually not in need of any optical support but rather wish to use prescription-free glasses merely as the seductive accessory du jour.
tomford.com
The eyewear designs by Tom Ford are clearly inspired by the decade that brought good taste according to Ford and which he used as background to his first film, “A Single Man”: the 1960s. The colours are subdued and classic, and shapes are clear, almost docile in the functional way they accentuate the face and sit plainly on noses and cheeks.
I have been stubbornly insisting on contact lenses for quite a few years now but when I am at home, I rely on the pure, simple lines of my Moschino spectacles. It is now quite a long time since I replaced my glasses. With so many choices courtesy of current designers like Tom Ford, I think it may be high time to view the world anew and step outside with a functional yet stylish accessory.
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