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Journalism of Courage
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This is an archive article published on February 25, 2015
And the award goes to…
Spectacles. All eyes on fashion’s biggest accessory.
WHEN Patricia Arquette put on her spectacles to read from a speech that would make Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lopez cheer in delight, little did she know that she was partaking in the biggest moment at the Academy Awards. No, not that Streep or Lopez — blue-chip celebrities who probably get paid more that their male colleagues — would make an ideal case for the equal-pay debate. But Arquette doing what she’s done a few times before this month — slipping on a pair of eyes to read her acceptance speech — makes her an unwitting fashion hero.
Four eyes are better than two, say fashion watchers as reading glasses are enjoying their moment in the sun. Right from bloggers to stylists to fashion designers who only wear black, spectacles are so au courant that even some with perfect vision are wearing them for the sake of style.
But to team them with a gown at a gilded award ceremony? Only someone as confident about her unique sense of chutzpah can pull it off. Like Lupita Nyong’o who presented an award at the Screen Actors Guild and the Golden Globes this year wearing glasses with her Giambattista Valli and Elie Saab couture gowns. Her SAG outing even has a Twitter handle dedicated to it. Moreover, she outshone Jared Leto who launched the giant Man Bun trend only last year.
Like Nyong’o, Arquette didn’t wear her glasses on the red carpet, but pulled them out to read her acceptance speech like any normal near-sighted person would do.
Of course spectacles serve a huge purpose in the image you’d like to send out. Wearing a pair distinctly gives you an intellectual air. Anything you say gets taken seriously. It’s like having Chatterjee, Mukherjee or Basu for a last name (or even Roy, Ranbir Kapoor’s pseudo little latest outing) — you are immediately assumed to be more creative, have read more books, watched more world cinema, can quote Milton or Tagore and are no short of brilliant.
Much of that is bollocks. John Mayer wore a gorgeous pair of round-rimmed ones at the Grammys and he’s more playboy than Hugh Hefner. Anne Hathaway tries on a pair ever so often. In India, fashion rivals Sonam Kapoor and Deepika Padukone are donning a pair trying to out-see each other.
It may seem that celebrities are trying to tell us that they are real people too. This may be them showing us how they want to be perceived: as regular chashma-wearers in real life or as thinking soul-searching minds.
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But the truth is often found with their stylists. As any true-blue style watcher will tell you, columns like this (and scores of blogs and websites around the world) survive on finding newer ways to write about red-carpet dressing. How many times can you write about sparkling gowns, gemstone clutches, statement earrings and metallic eye shadow?
Give them a quirk, they say. And we bite the bait. Man Buns last year. Girls with Glasses this year.
It’s okay. It beats reporting on Ms Lopez’ perennial boob flash.
namratanow@gmail.com
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