Who would have ever thought it possible? A huge impart on the style of women’s eyewear lately has been... men. And more specifically... men’s eyewear. If you’ve been following along with 20/20 these last few years you might remember an initial beachfront. Nearly four years ago, 20/20 hosted a special supplement and event called Modern Man. The occasion celebrated the emerging growth category of men’s eyewear and commentary at the event from Brooks Brothers’ Claudio DelVecchio, designers Jhane Barnes and Blake Kuwahara, and ever-natty eyewear retailer Ed Beiner all pointed to the hot spot of men demanding eyewear steeped in style and craftsmanship.

The 20/20 stance then as now has been wholeheartedly delivering that message. So are we saying women are cruising men’s frames for their visionary pleasure? Of course not. But it is evident that the current crop of styles most appealing to women consumers are frames steeped in a range of men’s identity options.

Two perfect examples of this crossover trending testify in this issue. The Prada eyewear on the cover heralds from a brand well versed in a couture tradition rooted in craftsmanship, fine tailoring and flawless taste, and the preppy glasses by Colors in Optics’ Sandy Hutton on page 58 in the “MANdate” feature bear direct lineage to the P3 specs he designed for Diane Keaton in “Annie Hall.”

Am I getting TOO fashionista for you? Yeah, we get that misguided criticism sometimes here at 20/20. It mainly comes from anyone jaded enough to ignore the six full pages of dedicated CE presented every month. And just maybe those same naysayers skip over the monthly info-impact of L&T cover stories such as “Combating Senior-Eyetis” by Carole Burns, OD, in this issue. To them I just have to chuckle (although I loathe that phrase) and say we might be stylish but we’re equally well-schooled and... brilliant. Hmmm. Maybe I should add confident? Just did.