New sunglasses

I haven't in the past been one of those people who are always wearing sunglasses, as part of their standard 'look' perhaps, like Anna Wintour, the Editor in-Chief of Vogue fashion magazine. Here she is, in screenshots taken on my phone off the BBC News app:

 

Anna Wintour is in her mid-seventies now, and I must say she looks great for her age, although her sense of style is part of that. Apparently her always-on sunglasses not only make a personal statement, but protect her eyes from glare (the glare of publicity as much as anything else, perhaps), which I think is sensible, if you have deteriorating eyesight (and haven't we all). 

I am not a slave to fashion. When, in 1975, Foster Grant ran an amusing TV advert in which the entire crew of HMS Victory, plus lady passengers, simultaneously donned trendy sunglasses at the order of Horatio Nelson, I admit I was tempted to invest in a pair. See the video at this YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdSJNCkmkdg. But the cost restrained me. 

In more recent times since Nelson's day, I have worn large polarising sunglasses for driving that fit over my normal specs. These work very well, but they do make me look like a welder on a big job. They are great in the car, less so when walking about in the sun. 

That said, I haven't until recently felt the need to get another pair that will look better on a sunny promenade, or around town. Instead I've used a hat to shade my eyes, although that doesn't block every type of glare.

Well, earlier this month I had my eyes tested at Specsavers. The OCT scan and everything. Basically, all was well, although I was advised that (a) both eyes contained floaters (representing normal wear and tear and not something serious), but (b) both eyes showed signs of developing cataracts (though presently this was only at an early stage). Pretty standard for somebody in their seventies, surely: asking around, it seems that everyone who is older has cataracts in their eyes, that sooner or later will require treatment. How soon in my case? The optician said it was different for each person. It could take months or years. But I could slow down the development of them by shielding my eyes from strong light sources, sunshine especially. 

That advice made me think about wearing sunglasses more, not just in the car when driving along. The eye test had revealed (as expected) that I needed a fresh lens prescription for my ordinary specs. I could order prescription sunglasses too, at a discount. But I didn't, for the same reason that I didn't have ordinary specs with lenses that lightened or darkened according to the ambient light. Such lenses would compromise my photography. I needed to see things in their natural colours and tones. Better to have sunglasses that - like the 'welder' ones I already had for the car - had frames that fitted over my smaller ordinary specs, and could be momentarily removed while I composed the shot. Specsavers would still do a half-price deal for me, polarising lenses included. 

So which frames to choose?  They would have to be big ones that could conceal the ordinary specs underneath. And they would certainly need to be less utilitarian, much more fashionable. I'd looked in a sunglasses shop in Canterbury shortly before, and had been shocked at how much I could pay for designer-name frames with only plain lenses fitted - £300 did not seem out of the way - and polarising lenses would be extra on top of that. Yikes! But Specsavers had a range of designer frames too, and after trying several likely ones on, I settled on a pair made by Marc Jacobs. No, this wasn't my pet brand. In fact I'd not really been aware of Marc Jacobs stuff before. But they were nice sunglasses, and met my personal specifications, polarising lenses included. 

I picked them up a week later. The price was a reasonable £105. I'd got a 50% discount, linking these new sunglasses with my order for new lenses on my ordinary specs. I also got a yellow hard Marc Jacobs case to put the sunglasses in. 

So here they are, examined closely back at home.

And next with them on, over my ordinary specs.

I thought they looked pretty good indoors, even when doing household chores like washing the dishes!

Almost immediately it was time to test them in a social situation. They still looked good, although I think my friends wore them as if they were lifelong fashionistas, unlike myself.

The big irony is that ever since purchasing them, the weather outside has been rubbish, with the sun hardly ever peeping through the dull moody cloud cover. So nobody else has seen me wearing my new sunglasses! I've only on occasion worn the old 'welder' ones, when driving here and there. 

But their moment will come. I keep them in the car, ready for action. Ready for my fashion call. Anna Wintour wore hers when talking with the late Queen. I shall wear mine when talking with the King. If, that is, I bump into him. 

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