Stylish Reading Glasses: How to Find the Best Style for Your Face

Courtesy of Ottavo –

 If you’re a woman over fifty, you’ve probably already gone through the routine of holding printed text farther and farther from your face – squinting to the point that it hurts, finally admitting that it’s time for reading glasses.

I have some good news: the timing couldn’t be better. The eyewear market is just starting to catch on to the fact that there’s a whole world of stylish, mature women who want a chic alternative to cheap drugstore readers — but don’t want to break the bank.

With the wave of new styles and colors available, reading glasses, more than other eyewear, offer a perfect opportunity to be bold. If you like the idea of taking a few fashion risks but are intimidated by the thought of wearing a statement piece all day, you can think of reading glasses as a way to dip your toes in the water. Since they’re only worn occasionally for activities like reading the paper or checking out a menu, you can treat them like a chunky necklace or dangly earrings – a great way to add a bold, colorful piece to your wardrobe without a full-time commitment.

That said, here are a few basic guidelines when it comes to eyewear.

How to match frames to the shape of your face

First of all, those lucky enough to have oval faces can wear just about any frame. For the rest of us, it’s best to stick with this general rule of thumb: pick a frame that’s the opposite of the shape of your face. For example, if you have a round face, then you can balance out your soft contours with the sharper angles of square glasses. Ottavo, one of the new brands of stylish reading glasses, offers three Italian-influenced designs for each face shape:

• Round faces: The Quadro, Ottavo’s elegant update on the classic rectangular reader, adds structure to a round face.
• Rectangular and square faces: The Ovale is unabashedly round, offering perfect circles to soften a strong jawline.
• Heart-shaped faces: With just a bit of a cat eye, the Medio balances the delicate features of a heart-shaped face.

How to match clothing to bold eyewear colors

Each Ottavo model comes in black, light-grey crystal, ivory white, crimson, and cobalt blue, which means your options range from neutral to POP! If your wardrobe tends toward monochromatic – meaning you wear mostly solid colors, within a fairly limited spectrum – then a crimson or a cobalt frame will offer just the right burst of color without overshadowing your style.

On the other hand, if you like to wear a lot of bold colors, you can go in the opposite direction and pair your rich clothing palette with a toned-down pair of black, ivory, or grey glasses. However, if you want to be a little bolder, you can try color-blocking. That’s the art of contrasting multiple bold colors, which means you might pair crimson frames with a cobalt blue top, or wear blue frames with a coral red pencil skirt.

Remember, all of these suggestions are guidelines, rather than hard and fast rules. Like almost every other aspect of aging, the need for reading glasses presents surprising opportunities that you probably wouldn’t have expected. If you’ve spent most of your life wearing distance glasses with tortoise frames or wire rims, now is the time to try out those bold red squares you never had the nerve to buy before. Use this as a chance to be your most fashion-forward self!

Priced at $98, Ottavo reading glasses can be ordered online at https://www.getottavo.com/. All Ottavo glasses come with an unconditional money-back guarantee, including free returns.