The Fashion Editor Approved Reading Glasses That Are Not Too Good to Be True

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Here at T&C, we pride ourselves on our discerning eye for quality. With Tried & True, our editors will give you an inside look at the pieces they simply cannot live without.

The worst day of my second grade life is the one where the doctor told me I had to wear glasses. My mother tried to soften the blow with a visit to Cohens Optical on 86th Street. We chose a pair of “very stylish” quasi octagonal shaped tortoiseshell frames and a monogram SV sticker to place in the corner of the lens-with a red apple version for alternate days. (Remember the girl in Welcome To The Dollhouse? Very that.) I wore those glasses, and the ones that followed, every day until the beginning of the eighth grade when my first day of school surprise was finally getting contacts. I put my frames in the back of my makeup drawer and pulled them out occasionally. You have never seen me in glasses? That’s because, and pardon me, I saw you first.

But over the last few years even when I was wearing my contacts I realized I needed, como se dice? HELP. I could no longer borrow my friends frames to read the menu Something’s Gotta Give style, and it got a bit ridiculous taking screenshots of price tags only to enlarge them on my phone. I went to a beloved optical store on Madison and got the kind of chunky black framed readers I had seen on so many women whose style I admire. I actually liked wearing them when I needed to. They healed me from my second grade glasses trauma. I felt good in them, smart. And then, about two weeks after investing in them, I forgot them at a restaurant. Drugstore check out counter readers were the answer. I bought several pairs and felt pride in my burgeoning practicality. I wore them at the office. Our Fashion Director Dania Ortiz walked in, took one look at me and said “No.” By the next morning I had a pack of new readers on my desk.

She had ordered them from Amazon and they came overnight in a set of three, black, tortoiseshell, and clear plastic. They were an oversized aviator style that made me feel like 1970s era Faye Dunaway, Elsa Peretti, and Michael Caine. They were readers with edge! Ones that helped me see my computer screen clearly, and ones I wasn’t embarrassed to keep on during a Zoom. I ordered a pack for the office, one for the apartment, and one to keep in my carry on bag at all times (have you ever lost glasses while traveling? Not the end of the world but somehow it feels like it). I feel so comfortable in them I have considered buying a pack, popping out the magnifying lens and ordering actual prescription lenses-to wear in public. Might even have to find a red apple sticker to complete the look.

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