Friday, March 6, 2009

Credit Crunch Chic: Cheap Interim or Classic Investment buys? That is the question.

Well, you can't have failed to have heard how people are spending less yadda yadda yadda.

The real proposition is: instead of questioning how much you should spend on accessories etc, perhaps we should be asking how much wear will we get out of something we buy for a quick fashion fix?

Long term, emotionally and economically it makes sense to invest only in items that we genuinely adore and make us feel and look good.

The cheap fast-fashion delivered by the high street over the last couple of years, as we've discovered, only lasts a couple of wears/washes: it's here where we think it should stop.

Reuters report this week that production of Italian eyewear is being hit hard by the economic downturn. A world leader in the industry, they've found their main export market to the US dropping by more than 20% at a time of year when sales should be flourishing.

Play your part in keeping it all going by investing in a pair of sunglasses to keep forever. And this pair of Chanel havana frames with pearl detail at the temple is one we're looking to cherish...

Monday, March 2, 2009

Aussie cull on colour deficient lenses

Crazy as it sounds, last week it was reported by the Canberra Times that shades with brown, yellow or reddish tinted lenses will be unacceptable for driving in.

Those with rose-tinted rage were told that traffic-lights use a green-blue hue to help colour deficient road users (about 8% of men) detect green traffic signals, whilst sunglasses with a brown lense designed to block the glare from blue skies actually end up blocking out the blue light emitted from traffic-lights.

Professor Stephen Dain of the University of New South Wales, Australia and former head of the School of Optometry and Vision Science discovered that in a study of "49 colour-deficient males and 20 with normal vision were given various tinted sunglasses and asked to identify colours of simulated traffic lights.

"About 20 per cent of colour-deficient subjects wearing tinted glasses could not correctly identify the lights. His report notes that "response times for colour-deficient people were slower than colour normals for red and yellow" lights."

The interesting news for those style, rather than, science conscious wearers of sunglasses is that according to Professor Dain, European countries are trying to avoid imposing legislation on sunglasses manufacturers in an effort not to hamper sales.

If you fancy being particularly responsible, have a look at some high standard lenses to protect your peepers...