By Preston Fassel

Friends, opticians, dispensaries, lend me your ears: I come to praise retro eyewear, not to bury it.

Matter of fact, it’s already pretty much buried itself.

True… they were ambitious frames, coming to us at a time of great need: The eyewear of the ’90s, much like the decade itself, was a confused, often boring, often aesthetically offensive mish-mash of the gaudy and the minimal. With the rise of hipsterdom and “Mad Men,” we were at last able to enjoy eyeglasses that allowed the wearer to look unique and dignified, rather than like the rejects from a scrapped “Reality Bites” sequel. Yet, all trends have their seasons, and now that Don Draper has meditated off into the sunset (and taught the world to sing), it looks like it’s finally time for the ’50s to ’60s-inspired frames that have dominated the market to slip into their own hibernation. The question remains now, what honorable specs will step up to take their place?

Trend analysts will tell you that the high wave of fashion right now is something called Normcore, a sort of return to the most banal of late ’80s to early ’90s styles, a lowest-common-denominator approach to aesthetics that emphasizes comfort over cosmetics and bland over bourguoise. It’s an understandable and perhaps even expected phenomenon, both as a backlash to the highly-stylized trends of the past decade and as part of the powerful ’90s nostalgia movement that’s been picking up steam over the past year and a half. For aficionados of the Normcore look, this has meant one thing for their eyewear: round, round, round. Now… I’ve extolled the virtues of the long-besotted roundy before, and I’ll be glad to see it start popping up on faces across the socio-economic spectrum so that I can stop hearing them called Harry Potter Glasses. Yet, I’ve also recognized in those unabashed praise-pieces that circular specs aren’t for everyone. They may be great for the oval-faced and the nearsighted, but for folks with wide, squat faces and big, round heads (“cough cough”), for all of their classic appeal and proud lineage—well, they just don’t look that great.

So what will be the frame of tomorrow? Something that fits within the sartorial rules of the look of this next decade, while also appealing to the widest range of tastes and faces?

For many, the appeal of rimless eyeglasses has been that—although they’ve certainly gone out of fashion—they’ve never gone out of style… a subtle yet profound difference. While other types of eyeglasses are meant to isolate, emphasize or downplay particular aspects of the wearer’s face, rimless glasses are unique in being the only style of eyewear to emphasize the wearer themselves. It’s a trait that’s allowed rimless eyewear to more or less stick around in a unique way that has seen it pop up time and again throughout the 20th and early 21st century. From its time as the style-of-choice in the ’20s and ’30s, up to the hippies of the ’60s and the quirky intellectuals of the ’80s, rimless eyewear has found a niche for itself in nearly every decade, whether as a widely-embraced style or amongst the era’s subcultures. It’s this very versatility that makes it the perfect eyewear to swoop in and optically define yet another era: Understated, minimalistic and flattering the widest variety of faces, rimless glasses fit perfectly within the sensibilities of the Normcore aesthetic, while also having broad enough of an appeal to catch the eye of those wanting to look in style but not too trendy. What’s more, rimless presents a unique opportunity for independent practices to do battle with the online beast, offering patients an opportunity for total customization of their eyewear. Gold temples? Silver temples? Square lenses… round? 48 mm eyes or 52? Rimless glasses present the opportunity for every patient to be fitted to his or her own specifications with a modicum of customization simply not offered by or feasible from even the most powerful of online retailers. In fact, there are a variety of extant brands and models ready to meet your needs.

There is, of course, the Steadfast Tin Soldier of the rimless world, Silhouette, whose name is considered synonymous with the style. Then there’s also Lindberg Eyewear, a company whose mentality is equal parts optics and artistry, designing frames that eliminate components such as screws and rivets to create perhaps the most streamlined eyewear available today. For those seeking just a taste of celebrity with their frames, there’s Kazuo Kawasaki, whose frames are worn by both Sarah Palin AND Stephen Colbert; Lunor, who supplied Steve Jobs with his frames; and Saville Row, whose antique-influenced frames have popped up in film franchises ranging from Indiana Jones to Harry Potter. On the innovative front, there’s Hoya’s Avantek, a unique rimless design in which notches are edged onto the sides of lenses for frame mounting, completely eliminating any obstruction to the patient’s line of sight and also offering completely distortion-free optics.

My own personal hope? I’d love to see a return of Rimways—those rimless glasses with little support arches attaching the bridge to the temples—think Gus Fring on “Breaking Bad.” Back in the ’30s, they were the name in rimless eyewear, and though they had a nice little renaissance in the ’80s (take a look at Wilford Brimley in “The Thing,” Kurtwood Smith in “Robocop” or Corey Feldman in “Friday the 13th IV”), they’re one style that hasn’t yet enjoyed a comeback. To my knowledge, only Shuron, ArtCraft and Saville Row still manufacture models, but I’d love to see some of the bigger names in rimless offer their own models as well.

Welcome back, rimless glasses. Thanks for waiting on us; it just took a while to catch up to you. ■