My Hat Helped "Sell" My New Glasses

[Brent Hutto]

It's about time for a prescription upgrade on my bifocals. And I'd been wanting to get some plastic frames instead of the rimless titanium pair I've had for a couple years (they are too easy to tweak out of shape). So I went shopping at the eyeglass store.

I found a pair that seemed very comfortable with a "keyhole" bridge and acrylic temples and brow-piece married to steel rims. A bit smaller lens size than I'd had before but I liked the way they fit. Here's a picture I found on the 'net.

But what really "sold" me on them was putting on the hat I was wearing that day (Borsalino Astuccio in steel grey) while trying on the glasses in the mirror. The whole thing just worked together so well, I thought. Just to be sure, when I went back to actually order them I wore my other hat (Alessandria in taupe) and it worked just as well.

So help me out here, fellow fedora-wearers. Do you choose your eyeglass frames more based on how they look with the hat, without the hat or equal weight on both? Given that my hats are only on my head, what, 10-15% of the time if that? Can't believe it but basically the look has to work with the hat or it's a no-go. How silly is that?

And yes, this is a dumb place to ask that last question...

My rollable travel/summer Astuccio with my current glasses.

And what the heck, a photo of the Alessandria which is my "good hat".

 

[hatophile]

I like anything old-fashioned looking including glasses, so that's what I go by. I fit glasses more to my face than to the hat, but I think my hats look OK with the glasses. I'm assuming the new frames are the ones from the internet? I like the look of those, but they wouldn't complement my face that well. On you, however, they'd probably look pretty good. I like the hat for sure too!

 

[Brent Hutto]

Yeah, I'm buying them in a local shop but it's the model and color of the picture I linked. The color is called "Taupe Tortoise Pewter" which pretty much covers all the bases, I think.

I don't like the really narrow (top to bottom) rectangular frames that are trendy right now. In fact I wanted something rounder than what I had. But I tried on a pair of real old-timey round lenses and oh my goodness, talk about something not fitting your face. Especially not wearing a hat, my ginormous tall and bald cranium with round glasses looks like Mr. Potato Head (tm). My theory is a visible brow-line type frame is a good thing when you've got too much head and too little hair up there.

 

[Cliffnopus]

I remove my hat when I'm buying glasses (sunglasses/reading). I try to match my face, not my hat.


Cliff

 

[fmw]

I just let my wife pick something. I don't view glasses as fashion. I view them as tools.

 

[RBH]

I only wear readers ...so far.
I have a pair of round ones that look pretty good with a hat.
But I would like to see a photo of the new glasses with that Alessandria.
They remind me of glasses my grand dad used to wear.

 

[Brent Hutto]

I should get them around the end of next week. So I'll try and get a snapshot like the ones I posted here with the new frames.

When I first looked at them a couple weeks ago and put my hat on, the lady at the eyeglass shop said "Well, that definitely gives you a certain look!" but I'm not sure she entirely meant she liked the look. So I went back yesterday to see if I still liked them and a different lady was there. When I put them on (this time it was the Alessandria) she said something like "That's a great look." so either she liked it better or she was better at pretending...

 

[T Rick]

Those glasses remind me a lot of the Ray Ban Clubmaster, which I think is a great style to go with a Fedora. I got my Wayfarers this year, probably will buy a pair of Clubmasters next year.

 

[MDphoto]

I had a pair of rimless frames, but just couldn't stand the look of them with fedoras. I ended up going with a pair of Moscots originals with the keyhole bridge. To me, the Moscots really go well with all my hats including my newsboy from the Hat People.

 

[monbla256]

I've had to wear glasses since I was 5 yo so the style etc. is based on what will work for grinding my prescription so my glasses ALWAYS go with my hats

 

[Tango Yankee]

Those glasses remind me a lot of the Ray Ban Clubmaster, which I think is a great style to go with a Fedora. I got my Wayfarers this year, probably will buy a pair of Clubmasters next year.

:arated: I recently got tired of the cheap sunglass route and went back to Ray Ban, buying a pair of NOS Clubmasters on eBay. (Yes, I know they're available new as well.) I bought the tortoiseshell model. I have to agree, I think they go great with hats (I've worn mine with fedoras, a homburg, and a lord's hat thus far) and I think Brent's will as well.

Cheers,
Tom

 

[Brent Hutto]

I only wear readers ...so far.
I have a pair of round ones that look pretty good with a hat.
But I would like to see a photo of the new glasses with that Alessandria.
They remind me of glasses my grand dad used to wear.

Picked up the glasses late yesterday. I didn't get a particularly decent snapshot this morning but here is my Borsalino Alessandria with the new glasses, wearing the same shirt as in the two photos at the beginning of the thread. Looks fine to me (nice hat always helps).

And here it is with the Astuccio, yesterday. The big temple pieces combined with the fact that this hat sits too high on my head is not ideal...

 

[dhermann1]

I only use glasses for reading and computer viewing, so it's a moot point. But I definitely was looking for a somewhat vintage look the last time I looked at new frames.

 

[Brent Hutto]

No way I could have gone all the way to the Buddy Holly look or even some of the modern takes on that frame which are even wider and more blocky than Buddy Holly's. But a like these with a restrained tortoise-y color and smallish, which really is a more vintage proportion. Some of the over-the-top modern frames look like the old horn-rim style cross-pollinated with the huge oversize proportions from the 80's!

 

[dogrocketp]

I'm an optician for the last 30+ years. I think you did a good job changing from your Silhouette Rimless frames to the Oliver Peoples frame. Glasses are both a tool and a fashion accessory. My only concern about the frame you chose is that it fits properly. There is very little adjustment available in the bridge (nose), and that particular one is a challenge to fit. I think that a hat wearer is justified in looking at the glasses with a hat. Remember, the 2 together put a person further into high style territory. Most of us are not used to that area, even though we shouldn't be afraid to go there.

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

I'm an optician for the last 30+ years.

In your learned opinion there a style that works best with a hat?

 

[Brent Hutto]

My only concern about the frame you chose is that it fits properly. There is very little adjustment available in the bridge (nose), and that particular one is a challenge to fit.

I worried about that during the week it took to have the lenses made. So far after a half-day then one full day of wear they seem to fit well. The near vision is set just a bit higher than on my old glasses so I had to raise my chair at work so my head stays level at the computer. My pupils are a couple mm farther apart than the centers of the rims but the optician said that would work fine because the lenses would be centered over my pupils and don't have to be 100% centered in the rims.

These actually seem to stay aligned much better over the course of the day. My very crooked head was always trying to drag the rimless frames into one shape then they would bounce back to their normal. I had to adjust them on my face many times a day. These plastic frames go for hours without me needing to touch them and so I'm not constantly having one eye or the other bothering me because it can't see out the middle of the lens.

Thanks for your perspective on the "fashion" thing. Some of us kind of think that should be called "the f word" but I agree that once you own a couple different hats, there's no deying that you're making a certain statement every day when a hat goes on your head. Over time I'm becoming cool with that even though it's not how I would necessarily describe myself. And hey, even my mom liked them when we saw her the other day...she's to that certain age when if she doesn't like something she'll just blurt out "Why the heck are you wearing that?" so at least you get her honest fashion opinion (whether you want it or not)!

 

[PabloElFlamenco]

Brent, those new glasses look far better with a hat than the old ones, which bring nothing whatever in the "looks" department... mind you, this comment is from a near-permanent hat wearer who bought his reading glasses, some years ago, without the slightest attention to the hat factor. Which is to say, the glasses and the hat(s) don't bear the slightest relation. Next time I buy glasses, it will be with a hat on my noggin...