Frames & Styles

An octagonal frame has eight straight sides instead of the usual oval or round outline. It sounds more angular than a hexagon on paper. In practice it reads softer, because each added side pushes the shape closer to a circle. More corners, paradoxically, means less geometry visible to the eye. What makes a frame “octagonal”? … Read more

A hexagonal frame is a frame with six straight sides rather than a continuous curve. Most have two roughly parallel top and bottom edges, two shorter side edges, and two angled points at the outer corners. It suits faces where a little added geometry sharpens the look rather than crowding it — and it can … Read more

A “forever” frame is a shorthand, not a guarantee — no pair of glasses survives decades of wear untouched. What the phrase really points to is a frame built from materials and construction that age gracefully, in a shape restrained enough to outlast trends, so it can be repaired and re-worn rather than replaced. What … Read more

Some frame shapes date faster than others because they’re built around a single, exaggerated moment rather than a stable proportion. The more a shape depends on an extreme detail — an oversized lens, a sharp geometric angle, a very specific colour treatment — the more clearly it will read as “of its time” once that … Read more

Round frames read as intellectual because a perfect circle removes the sharp, angular cues associated with authority and instead recalls scholarly, bookish archetypes — professors, poets, John Lennon in his Cambridge phase. The shape softens the face and draws attention toward the eyes rather than the jawline, which reads as thoughtful rather than commanding. Where … Read more

The wayfarer began in 1952 as an American optical company’s deliberate move away from the round, wire-rimmed glasses that had dominated for decades. Its designer sketched a trapezoid shape, wide at the top and narrower at the jaw, and made it from thick plastic instead of metal. That shift — from delicate to bold, from … Read more

A clear or crystal frame appeals because it does two contradictory things at once: it disappears into the face less than a colour would, yet the material itself — glassy, faceted, catching light — is more interesting to look at than plain black. It reads as neutral and as a design statement in the same … Read more

Independent eyewear is designed and usually owned by the people whose name is on it, made in smaller runs with more say over shape, colour and material. Mainstream brands are largely licensed names — a fashion house’s logo applied to frames designed and manufactured by a separate eyewear company working across dozens of labels at … Read more

A screwless hinge joins the temple to the frame front without a visible screw holding it together. Instead, the two parts are held by a pin, a spring-loaded barrel, or a friction-fit mechanism built into the metal or acetate itself. The name refers to what you can’t see, not to an absence of engineering. It’s … Read more

What is a spring hinge? A spring hinge is a small coiled spring built into the hinge barrel of a temple, letting the arm flex outward past its normal open position and then pull itself back. Instead of stopping rigidly at 180 degrees, the temple gives a little under pressure, which is meant to ease … Read more