trends pg: Shopping for shades

Published in The Post-Star (B5)
5/14/06

When it comes to shopping for sunglasses, everyone has their own style. The carelessly cheap among us will settle for $10 drugstore shades, while others look to their opticians to prescribe specially tinted lenses.

Some see their eyewear as a fashion accessory that shows off their impeccably trendy taste -- no matter what the cost.

If you're the last type, you probably rejoiced at the news that Solstice, a chain of designer sunglasses boutiques, opened a store in Crossgates Mall last month.

"We specialize in very high-end brands: Marc Jacobs, Armani, Gucci, Juicy Couture ..." the store's training coordinator, Deanna Strothers, explained. "We believe in paying for quality."

She pointed out that, although many of the sunglasses on the display racks had price tags as high as $600, their average sale is about $250.

"Our concept in the store is to allow everyone to freely try things on," she added, noting that most of the sunglasses are displayed on open wall racks, not locked in glass cases.

As she spoke, one of the store's "stylists," a sleek-haired young man dressed in black, shadowed shoppers around the store with a polishing cloth to whisk away any fingerprints left on lenses.

"In some of our locations ,we've done celebrity fittings for people like Usher, and the Sopranos' cast," Strothers said.

No celebrities showed their faces at Crossgates on this day, but the store did attract shoppers like Air Force soldier Jake Schweikert and his friends, who came in on a whim as they walked through the mall.

"I came in here because it looked presentable," he said. "I'm looking for something sleek, with good eye coverage, that I can wear on my motorcycle. Nothing too robust or crazy."

He tried on a pair of Paul Franks with big, round lenses in a plastic frame.

"No," Strothers said firmly, as Schweikert's companions burst into laughter.

His friend Nelson English seemed to be taking his shopping more seriously.

"I try to look as good as possible at all times, and sunglasses help with that," he said. "I've got three pairs right now, and I probably spent about $400 total."

That's nothing compared to what some shoppers are willing to shell out.

At ICU Optical Studio, a designer sunglasses store in Saratoga Springs, a pair of plastic-framed Bulgari sunglasses with Swarovski crystal flowers on the temples is selling for $700.

"I guess it's the bling-bling," said store owner Andrea Queng. "And they're big, which is very in right now."

She said she's amazed at how big some people are willing to go in the name of trendiness this year.

"I just sold a pair, it was like twice this size," she said, pointing to a goggle-like pair of Versace frames. "The woman probably couldn't grin without her glasses moving on her face. But that's what she wanted, so OK!"

SHAPING UP
Andrea Queng, owner of ICU Optical Studio in Saratoga Springs, offers these tips to sunglasses shoppers:
-- If you have a round face, try a more angular, square frame. Round frames will only make you look rounder.
-- Longer faces often look best in plastic frames with small nose bridges.
-- Oval faces can get away with almost anything.
-- Polarized lenses are best for driving because they reduce all horizontal glare, but they make some people dizzy.
-- Properly fitted glasses should rest on the bridge of the nose, without creating pressure points along the sides of the nose or the tops of the cheeks.
-- The most important thing to look for in any sunglasses is 100 percent UV protection, to prevent things like cataracts and skin cancer (which can start in the eyelid) from developing later.
-- If you insist on buying cheap sunglasses, test them first. Hold them at arm's length and look through the lens at a stationary object. Rotate them. If the object appears to move or become blurry, the lenses contain distortions that could cause vision problems.