July 2011

Alexandre Gilbert Management Consultant, Paris, France

15th July 2011 “I think I’ve always worn Rayban sunglasses (Alex, photographed above with Paco, in Rayban style 3211), I don’t remember that I’ve ever had any other brand! When I look for glasses, I start with style, then quality, then price.  As a Management Consultant, I wear suits every day for business meetings. However, for evenings and weekends, I like casual, very casual clothes – jeans and a t-shirt, that’s it! If I could be dressed by a favourite designer, it would be Hugo Boss – I actually love his clothes.” JG

Paris based writer Mark Tungate explains his love of specs

10th July 2011 “I started wearing glasses when I was 20 years old, and even at that self-conscious age I wasn’t worried that they would make me look unattractive. Many of my role models wore glasses: Michael Caine, Woody Allen, Morrissey of The Smiths – they were the quirky-but-cool faces of spectacle wearing. Even Indiana Jones could be glimpsed in a pair of round tortoiseshell frames while teaching archaeology classes and squinting at runic symbols. Glasses, then, were not inimical to a life of adventure. Just the thing, in fact, for a journalist – which is what I had recently become. My first pair of specs were not unlike Indiana’s. They were resolutely retro, with wire ends that hooked over my ears.  I believe they were made by a company called Anglo American.  They went very well with the second-hand tweed jacket, chinos and trench coat I’d adopted as my reporter’s “uniform”. Since then, I’ve alway chosen classic frames, although in recent years they’ve been more rectangular than round – more Woody that Indiana, let’s say. I’ve worn glasses by Yves Saint Laurent and Paul Smith, and several pairs by Oliver Peoples – which remains my default choice. The glasses I’m wearing today are of genuine horn and bear the brand name of JLC, my optician on Rue de Bac here in Paris.

After more than 20 years of glasses wearing, I suppose you could say I’m an enthusiast. I certainly have no intention of wearing contact lenses – my glasses are part of my personality, as my wife would confirm. Actually, I’m no longer sure where character ends and image begins.  Am I bookish and diffident because I wear glasses? Apart from projecting an image, glasses are practical.   Frames hide the dark rings under your eyes.  When you need them in the morning, you simply pick them up from the bedside table.  You can take them off to rub your eyes.  Or you can take them off if you want the world to look like an Impressionist painting. In short, there’s little chance that I will take advantage of the affordability of laser surgery.  I don’t know what the future will bring,but I’ll be looking at it through glasses”. JG

Mark Tungate’s next book Branded Beauty:How Marketing Changed the Way We Look will be published by Kogan Page in October 2011

Tiphaine de Sachy, Ethics Officer, Paris France

“I’ve been wearing glasses for about twenty years, and I have always worn Lafont.  I appreciate the fact that they are reliable – a frame has never broken – and you can always find the type of frame that will suit your face.  Plus the employees at Lafont are very professional. As I am happy with Lafont, I’ve never tried to find another brand, and I appreciate having glasses that fit with all life situations. I work in an industrial group, so my fashion style for work is quite classical, but with a touch of modernity.  I prefer wearing a nice cashmere sweater rather than a jacket – that would be too formal.  I love wearing jeans, which I can do sometimes at work. For leisure, my clothes are quite informal. I try to be both feminine and comfortable.” JG