Thursday, July 7, 2011

Flirting with Warby Parker


Background: I have a terrible time picking glasses frames:  I take along husband, friends, mother, sister and visit multiple stores, uncertain whose advice to take. Glasses are expensive, so I aim for a serviceable frame and try to change frames as little as possible.
The five pictures against the brick are me trying on glasses - read on for why I was doing this in my back yard.


I read about Warby Parker in a W magazine as I waited for Genevieve to get her hair cut (my favorite part of appointments is the magazines, don't you agree?).  I was wishing for bolder glasses, so I scribbled down the website.

They were wonderful to deal with.  I tried on 10 frames through their handy free trial system (and took goofy pictures of 5 - this is a lot of pictures of me for just one post).


And I swept through the mall glasses stores too, coupons in hand.  Their glasses were still hundreds compared to Warby Parker's $95 and their donation to charity.  Really - $95 for cool glasses.


I really really wanted Warby Parker glasses, but in the end, I liked the reddish tortoise frames at Eyemart Express best (below, against the Victorian fish scales).  And at $150, they were still relatively inexpensive.


However, either my face is crooked or the optometrist is crooked, because I've been back twice now and I swear these glasses are still crooked.

These glasses require a bit of confidence for me to wear.  They are bolder and bigger and chosen more intuitively (I still have spasms of doubt - too 80s? too masculine? too overpowering?).  But usually I'm digging the look.

 Dear Warby Parker, I will try again next decade when I need a new pair of frames.  Au revoir! xo



6 comments:

  1. Oh you are funny!
    I just got my eyes checked. No bi-focal yet. Yahoo!
    But I have had these frames 15 years!!! I wanted a change. Dearest got new glasses last year ( he is blind as a bat without them) and then I tried of frames and everything looked good on me. This year yuck! They are all too wide for my face. So i am going with my 15 year old frames ( there are still in the store!) until they are antiques. Well okay to match this old antique ( me).

    BTW you look really good in the crooked dark frames glasses.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Shopping for SUNGLASSES stresses me out. I never know what looks good and all my insecurities come bobbing to the surface. Kudos to you for being so bold!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I enjoy your confidence! I tried bolder frames awhile ago, but my prescription is so strange and so strong that the lenses pick up glare from everwhere. Not an attractive combo.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I like your glasses. They suit you! I wear my glasses all the time now that I have progressive lenses -- contacts no longer work for reading! Sigh, getting old.
    Anyway, wearing them all the time means I want nice ones. Fashion statement but not so that you are just looking at the glasses! I have found mine at BJs (you don't have to be a member) and they are under $200, which is amazing for my type of lense. They always have ONE option for me that's not old-ladyish and not outlandish! So I go with that ;)

    ReplyDelete
  5. What? No monocle? (I went to the Warby Parker website.)

    I think you made the right decision.

    ReplyDelete

I enjoy the conversation in the comments - thank you for that. I will answer your questions here in the comments. Please note that I don't want the world wide web to know my family's surnames and location. Generic comments with links will be treated as spam and deleted.