40 & Fabulous in Frames
One day, you’re 39 years and 364 days old, blissfully basing your fashion choices on tried and tested brands and stores that you’ve relied upon for years. The next day, you’re 40, and something strange and sinister and wholly unexpected happens: you start to question whether certain high street brands and styles are really meant for someone who remembers things like the Millennium Bug and dial-up internet (and how annoying it was to have to close your MySpace account and switch everything over to Facebook when “this one probably won’t last either!”).
The best advice is to take stock. If you’re happy with your look and you feel that 40 is just a number and absolutely nothing needs to change in your life to give you a sense of fulfillment, that’s great news. You’re ready to step out in confidence and get on with things as per usual. However, if you think your fashion choices could use something of a mini revamp that leans more towards how you feel as you enter your fourth decade, there’s one quick and easy place to start that’s going to ignite your passion for creating the new you: your eyeglass frames. Yes, in this blog, we’re going to cover feeling 40 and fabulous in frames.
Complementary thickness
We’re starting with frame thickness (Some great ideas here). Not color palettes or size or anything else. And there’s a good reason. Your face is a blank canvas, true enough, but the dimensions and composition of that canvas are not up for debate. Frame thickness is perhaps the most prominent consideration when choosing eyeglasses, but all too often people are drawn towards eyeglasses that they think look the best in comparison to other eyeglasses, as opposed to being drawn to the eyeglasses that complement their face. Getting this right is going to mean accepting some home truths about whether your face shape is round or angular – the rule is to balance a rounded face with thick and angular frames, while opting for softer looking thinner frames to balance ‘sharper’ looking features.
Complementary tones
Do you have warmer skin tones that match seamlessly with what would be considered a summer palette? Or do you suit cooler winter tones? Or perhaps something in between? Developing an up to date understanding of the colors that suit you is an essential part of choosing eyeglasses – remember that your natural tones will develop over your lifetime and won’t stay the same. Darker eyes and hair can support bolder color selections, whereas paler hair and skin tones work best with pastels.
Complementary size
If you source your eyeglasses from an optician, you’ll be familiar with the part of proceedings that involves measuring the width of the bridge of your nose. But that’s not all – when measuring for eyeglasses, there’s more than one thing going on. You need to know the arm length. You need to know whether smaller or larger frames will fit your eyes. Knowing how to spot the right size eyeglasses for you can help you to feel comfortable, confident, and stylish.
Curve ball – balancing accessories
Here’s something you may not have considered: accessories. If you are a fan of standout costume jewellery with several bangles per wrist and oversized necklaces featuring heavily in your rotation of daily outfits, don’t expect your eyeglasses to match without a second thought. No matter how much you believe yourself to have perfected an eye for these things, there’s a ‘forever’ learning curve with matching frames and accessories … but the good news here is that having more than one pair of eyeglasses to hand is a fantastic way to blend frame sizes and materials to create multiple styles for the 40-something fashionista ready to look and feel nothing short of fabulous.
