I LOVE eyewear.

Even if you’re not blessed with the need to wear glasses everyday sunnies play a HUGE part in a fashionable woman’s wardrobe. Aside from shielding your eyes from the harsh rays of the sun and even protecting the delicate area around your eyes from sun damage, eyewear adds a certain je ne sais quoi to any look that can’t be duplicated by another accessory. Even a simple jeans and tee combo, while you’re out running errands, look more incognito chic than urban blah when you add a pair of statement sunnies into the mix.

Like other style favorites and closet classics, iconic eyewear styles have a colorful history in fashion and has continued to evolve and weave into current trends and stay relevant.

This week I’ve dived into the fashion archives to find the most inspiring and iconic eyewear moments:

Audrey Hepburn

One of the most memorable and iconic scenes in both fashion and cinema history is the opening scene of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Hepburn’s Holly Golightly made the black wayfarer style sunglasses an instant must-have.

First Lady Jackie Onassis-Kennedy

Jackie O made lucite frames in both oversized oval and octagon shapes look and feel oh-so-elegant. She was also a huge fan of tortoiseshell frames.

Janis Joplin

Round boho style frames were a fixture at Woodstock back in the 70s. No one made an impact with these round sunglasses than folk rock icon Janis Joplin.

Twiggy

Lucite oversized round sunglasses were a huge trend back in the 60s. These frames went so well with the over-the-top style of the era. From micro mini skirts, graphic and loud florals down to bold colorblocking, these lucite eyewear pieces finish off the look perfectly. Iconic model and 60s fashion ingenue, Twiggy, made these frames her signature piece.

Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen

The 00s were an era of fashion where the Olsen twins simply reigned. Graduating from childhood stardom, the Olsen twins started making a name for themselves with their impeccable style and love for vintage fashion. Mary-Kate and Ashley made oversized oval sunnies cool again, they never leave home without it.

Lady Gaga

Music superstar Lady Gaga took statement eyewear to a whole new level. Whether it’s a part of her performance look or a part of everyday haute couture style, she coordinates unique eyewear to the equally unique couture pieces she wears. For Gaga, eyewear becomes an integral part of her creative fashion expression.

From Reading Stones to Contact Lenses 

Would you believe that eyewear existed in prehistoric times? Evidence has been found that the inuit people fashioned glasses to protect their eyes from the sun, using walrus tusks and ivory. How ingenious right? It just goes to show the fundamental functionality that eyewear has. There was also proof found that the ancient Chinese used smoky quartz as lenses.

We’ve clearly evolved from the primarily protective nature of eyewear into something more ornamental and personal. Our eyewear of choice definitely expresses something about our personal style and is very effective in conveying a message about one’s personality. Certain frame shapes and styles are more polished and formal, while others are more casual and/or whimsical. Since eyewear can be easily changed and swapped out on a daily basis (if you can afford it), they are a great way to experiment with colors, styles, and textures as well as being a great way to express different facets of your personal style.

With that in mind, let’s review eyewear styles over the last hundred or so years to see how they’ve been influenced by culture and current trends of the time.

1900s / 1920-40s

At the turn of the century, the rise of movie stars consequently saw the rise of popularity of eyewear. The stars used sunglasses to go incognito and shield themselves from fan recognition. It was also used to protect their eyes from the harsh lighting they used onset.

In 1929, sunglasses started getting mass produced and marketed to summer vacationers. In 1936, polarized lenses came into the scene introduced by Edward Land. He came up with this using his polaroid camera filter. Toward the end of the 30s-40s, sunglasses were adopted by savvy city chic women and became a widespread fashion trend. 

1950s

The 50s was all about fashion eyewear. Cat-eyes were particularly prominent in this decade, whether for eyeglasses or sunglasses. Everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Brigitte Bardot used eyewear as a vital part of their look.

1960s

Exaggerated shapes defined eyewear in the 60s. The mod style that was prevalent in this decade counted eyewear as a key part to pulling off the mod trend. Large round frames or large square frames in lucite or colored plastic were the weapons of chicness during this period.

1970s

The Bohemian style was the fashion hallmark of the 70s. There was more variety in this decade of eyewear fashion—aviators, fading lenses, and wire frames were all in vogue.

1980s

The era of excess is what people often called the 80s. Bold and brash colours and unapologetic playful eyewear shapes and style dominated. Large and white sunglasses were particularly popular in the 80s.

1990s

From excess to minimal, small and wired lenses became the eyewear du jour in the 90s. From pop princesses like Britney to Sarah Michelle Gellar, this style was all the rage.

2000s

The rise of it girls like Mischa Barton, Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie, Paris Hilton and the Olsen Twins gave rise to a new generation of style lovers. These it girls were always perfectly coiffed and never stepped out without their trademark oversized sunglasses. In the 2000s the bigger your sunglasses were, the better.

2010 and beyond

Sunglasses are a multimillion dollar industry. Different lenses for different prescriptive needs along with various brands with their own takes on the classic eyewear shapes are flooding the market. Iconic eyewear shapes like the aviator, cat eye, and mod are all still considered chic. Every season though, designers step it up a notch with details like carved arms on eyewear or pearl or studded embellishments on the frame.

If you enjoyed this week’s feature
please like it on Facebook or Instagram
or leave a comment/question below.
Thank you.
Ann Reinten AICI CIP
Author

How amazing would it be to own the perfect wardrobe, one we could stand in front of each morning and be inspired by. Where every item flattered us and our outfit options were visible and unending.

Sigh, if only, right?

While perfection is rarely attainable a wardrobe of clothes that flatters our shape and age is in harmony with our personality, fulfills the needs of our lifestyle and provides lots of outfit options is attainable. The catch, and there’s always a catch, is that it takes knowledge, planning, time and a degree of dedication.

Nothing worth having comes easy…sigh

Let’s take this elephant and eat it step by step.

Find Your Flattering Styles

Discovering all the garments that suit your shape and age is possible and affordable with My Private Stylist. This is a program I developed some years ago which shows you exactly all the styles, garment elements, accessories and essential coordination guidelines you need to look your best and shop successfully. This can be accessed with a consultation with one of our image consultants (the best way), or purchased one online.

Be True to Your Style Personality       

Feeling great about the way you look is not only dressing in flattering outfits but the outfits also need to be harmony with your personal style. This will be your unique mix of classic, natural, dramatic, feminine, creative, sexy or elegant. When garments and accessories reflect your innate style personality you’ll end up saying things like’ “This is so me!”

Once you know your personality it can be adapted to all the circumstances in your life; work, home, play and socializing.

If you don’t know your personality why use our free Style Personality profile to discover it. If you have a My Private Stylist program be sure to be logged when you do it. 

Meets Your Lifestyle Needs

If the items in your closet are not appropriate for your lifestyle you’ll end up with nothing that feels right to wear.

The easiest way to work this out is to create a lifestyle pie and then compare it to what’s in your wardrobe.

First make a list of either the events you need specific clothes for such as gym, work, home, general errands, special occasions, dating etc. Or, the level of clothes you generally need such as gym, business casual, smart casual, dressy, evening.

Then draw a circle/pie drawing and add each as a slice of the total per week or month as you prefer. Your wardrobe should reflect the same percentages as your chart. One reason you can have lots in your closet and very little to wear is that it’s out of sync with your current lifestyle.    

Once you understand your lifestyle needs to can better allocate the right funds towards the things you really need and you won’t be as tempted to buy outside of this.

To work out your own lifestyle and wardrobe pies click this link.

Money Spent Wisely

A common problem I witnessed when I was performing wardrobe audits with clients was they had spent their hard earned money on the wrong types of garments. Too often large amounts were spent on items such as dressy dresses that were worn only once of twice while the work horse classic staples were of a lesser quality than they deserved given how often they were worn.

To work through this issue you can use this cost per wearing formula:

Multiply the garment cost + upkeep like dry cleaning
______________________________________________
by the number of expected wearings.

The number of expected wearings would be:

The number of likely wearings/week, multiplied by the number weeks in a month it would be worn, multiplied by the number of months in a year it is likely to be worn, multiplied by the number of years it’s likely to last.  The answer is the total number of wearings.

Here’s some examples:

Blazer

Cost: $575 plus dry cleaning ($7 x 5) $35 = $610

Wearings:  2/week x 4 weeks x 9 months x 5 years = 360

$610 ÷ 360 = $1.69 per wear

Dressy Dress

Cost: $650 plus dry cleaning ($15 x 2) $30 = $680

Wearings: Twice

$680 ÷ 2 = $340 cost per wear

At that price, you would have been better off renting one from sites like rent the runway.

If you would like to work out if you are spending the right amount of clothes feel free to use my Cost Per Wear Calculator. 

One final note about your budget – what ever amount your have to spend seriously consider allotting 30% to your accessories. They have the most power to transform your outfits.

Purge and Organize

Most of the time when you’re at a loss for what to wear, it’s not because you have no clothes; it’s because you have too much, all crammed in there together. When you streamline your wardrobe you set yourself up for style success.

This means you need to purge yourself of items you no longer wear, are in poor condition, not longer you or out of date. Store away items that are not of this season and organize what you have left in your closet into a system that will work for you.

Keep any basic and classic items which are trans seasonal such as your little black dress, essential tees, solid dark denim jeans, black fitted trousers, tailored blazers etc in your closet. These will go a long way in serving as the foundation of a lot of your looks.

Also, keep statement items that you absolutely love. While they may not be as much of a blank styling slate as the basics, the pieces that you love will speak to your true personality and sense of style.

Don’t forget to donate your best items to charities like Dress for Success.

Read More…

Discover Every Outfit 

Now to the fun stuff.

Budget conscious, style savvy women know how to buy items so they have the most mix and match, and dress levels possible out of the clothes and accessories they own.      

Each piece in your closet has many styling possibilities that are as yet be unrealised.  Each item needs to be scoped out in regard to all the layering and accessorizing options you currently have to create a different outfits/looks. Adding a belt to a long flowing maxi dress immediately makes it look and feel different. Layering a blazer to a breezy dress or a casual outfit instantly polishes it up as well. 

Sure, you’ve got tried-and-tested old faithful ensembles that you like to use over and over again—and that’s perfectly okay. It’s good to have a style comfort zone, especially for those hectic days. But to realize and maximize the true style potential of your wardrobe, mix and matching is the key.

Lay each item on your bed and create as many outfits as you can using all the garments and accessories you have. If you like an outfit try it on to see if you like it when it’s on you and if you do take a full-length selfie or photograph the outfit on the bed.  This way you’ll remember the combinations.

Get Your Colour Stories Sorted

Mix and match strategies are easy when you base them within a solid color story. While there are some women who are incredibly loyal to one colour or palette, it pays to play around with a few colour families to truly figure out what works best with your complexion. Or better still arrange to have a colour analysis.

Once you know your colours you can branch out into patterns that fit within the color story that you have chosen. While a monochromatic (gray, white, navy blue, black) may be a no-brainer for some, and incredible attractive on Meghan Markle, I’m a firm believer in bringing color into your life.

In the next few weeks I’ll be bringing you a feature dedicated to working out what colours go well together.

Create Clothing Capsules 

Have you ever heard of a capsule wardrobe? If you haven’t, this might hold the key to unlocking your perfect mix and match wardrobe. A capsule wardrobe is a maximum of 30 items, typically a mix of classics in neutral colours and accent pieces to add personality and a touch of fashion which all coordinate seamlessly and together create lots of outfits.

His infographic from Classy Yet Trendy explains the concept very well. Read more…

Master Remixing 

Don’t let yourself become limited by style definitions. Something that is typically for evening like silver heels or a sequined skirt can be remixed into daytime and vise versa. The same rule applies to seasonal clothing, you can make summer pieces work for fall through layering and you can make fall pieces feel more appropriate for warm weather by pairing it with lighter weight fabrics. Read more…

Source

Find the Versatility

Push your imagination into drive and get creative. How many ways can you wear that T-shirt, cardigan or dress?

If it’s a T-shirt you could try tucking it into a skirt or tying it into a knot and wearing it with a high-waisted midi. You can also use it to layer underneath a tailored blazer or patterned cardigan.

Get into the habit of looking for ways to remix every piece of clothing. Even something as simple as cuffing your jeans can make a huge difference in changing your look of the day.

If you get stuck this feature will help you…

Source

Learn to Accessorize 

Accessorizing is to me the magic that adds personality and uniqueness as well as a change of mood that no other styling technique can rival. I’m a plus size woman and this can limit my style choices but with the power of accessories, I can look as great an anyone. My radar is always on high alert for unique items that will add a touch of creativity to my classic items. More… and this…

Get Proportions & Patterns Right

Another key to successfully mixing and matching is keeping balance right which means ensuring that you are the center of attention, not what you’re wearing.

When it comes to prints and patterns you need to get the mix right. One way is to pair a smaller size print with a bolder and more graphic pattern. More info…

As for proportions, never wear two loose or over-sized pieces at the same time. Balance tailored pieces with more loose or drapey silhouettes for an easygoing feel.

Shopping Suggestions

It’s so easy to be lured in by sales but if the item does not contribute to your desired wardrobe then it’s often not going to be worth it’s price, no matter how much of a bargain it is.

The first rule if to be ever on the look out for great classics and staples. A great pair of black or beige pants or nude or black pumps will all have a long lifespan if you look after them and are worth paying extra dollars on.

The second rule is if the item is something other than a classic or staple they should be able to be teamed with at least two items in your current closet. If it dosesn’t resist the urge to buy, even if it’s on sale.

Trial and Error

Like with everything else, practice makes perfect. By experimenting with your style and working towards a mix and match wardrobe of clothes your style, confidence and wardrobe will improve.

Don’t get disheartened. Discovering your mix and match wardrobe is a process. Embrace it! Don’t be afraid to try new trends, and don’t be afraid to stick to what you know. Strike a balance between the old and the new to reveal a mix and match wardrobe that will become one of your strongest allies.

If you enjoyed this week’s feature
please like it on Facebook or Instagram
or leave a comment/question below.
Thank you.
Ann Reinten AICI CIP
Author