Freeze Frame

Vaibhav Vishant,engineering student has an interesting reason to share,he says,“Glasses are cool. Its not only about style,it also adds some gravity to ones’ personality. I have had a wonderful experience,when I was standing in a group in our college corridor,in which I was the only one with glasses. A girl came to us and ignoring all other,she looked at me and asked me if I could help here find the office. Later when I became friendly with her,she revealed that it was because of the ‘decent’ and ‘serious’ looks because of the glasses that she had a talk with me. Apart from making me look more ‘decent’ and ‘serious’,the glasses are also good while riding a bike at night.”

Safder Ali,media professional,has a rather serious reason. “Though we have LCD computers at workplace,working for long hours takes a toll on my eyes. Apart from protecting my eye,glasses to me are an important accessory and I take special care while choosing my frames. Just a rimless can do wonders as it makes me look more professional and smart,” smiles he. When asked if glasses are too old in fashion,he adds,“It’s no more about the trend,fashion is now personality centric so glasses cannot be out dated.”

Anubha Khanna,student says,“I always thought that glasses make one look like a nerd,unless one day when I was trying one of my friend’s spectacles and other friends came screaming from the other corner of the classroom just to tell me that I looked really cute. Since then,I do have a pair,which I use only if I want to have those girl-next-door looks.”

Tapash De of GKB Opticians,Camp,adds,”As far as glasses are concerned combining normal spectacle frames with photo chromatic lenses is a sure shot and a cheaper option as compared to buying very high-end sunglasses. In the recent times the demands for spectacle frames have definitely gone up as most youngsters even those,who do not have numbered lenses,go in for the stylish frames and the zero powered lenses to give them a cool and suave corporate look.”

A spokesperson for the Titan Eye Store in Camp says,”The trend towards wearing fashionable frames both to work and for casual purposes is definitely high with a huge number of people coming in to check out the frames that the various price ranges have to offer. In addition to major brands,Titan has frames that are being marketed keeping the young crowd of the city in mind. The frames start from as low as Rs 500 and go up to Rs 3000. The colour changing lenses are also in vogue and are a huge hit amongst people,who do not wish to separately invest in sunglasses. Frames are available in multiple options,straight wires,titanium frames,magnesium frames and also lightweight alloy frames. The prices however increase with the type of material used to make the frame.”

Brand Factor

Some of the new high-end entrants as far as frames are concerned include brands like Mont Blanc,Swarovski,Polo Sport,Versace,Tag Heuer,and Oakley. The prices for these brands start from Rs 20000 and go well into six-digit figures. Speaking more about the mid-range brands,De says,”Most of the mid-ranged brands start from a starting price of Rs 1800 and go up to Rs 5000-6000. The major brands in this range include brands like Levi’s,Guess,Benetton,Tommy Hilfiger and Esprit. Another recent popular frame in the market is the newly launched Carl Zeiss.”