How To Choose A Spectacle Style | Glasses Styles For Every Person

Style guide

How to choose a spectacle style.

The first rule of choosing a spectacle style is: there are no rules.

We are not a bunch of shapes that can easily be categorised. Your face is unique, and your spectacles should embrace your uniqueness. Finding the right pair of spectacles is alchemy, not science. And when you get it right, it’s magical.

Facial proportions

Traditional beauty standards are derived from symmetry and harmony. Just look at Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, aligning geometry and the human body with the ancient measurement of the cubit. Coincidence? Yes.

But we are aesthetic beings, naturally drawn to a symmetry that our faces are so often lacking, a symmetry that can be introduced by a pair of spectacles.

Well chosen glasses provide complementary forms, introducing a new harmony into our facial composition, balancing the beautiful geometry of the human head.

A well chosen pair of spectacles can bring balance to the face, by offsetting facial geometry. Your head is a fine work of art and your spectacles are the final few brushstrokes that bring the composition to life.

A round lens will offset a square head, and a square lens will offset a round head. In both instances, avoiding a deep lens will ensure the head appears longer and thinner.

Spectacles that add width and depth can offset the shape of a long, thin face. A deeper lens will suit a wider head.

A low bridge will appear to lengthen a short forehead, while a heavier frame will draw the eye away from a larger forehead.

A frame with smaller lenses and wider lugs will ensure your eyes sit in the horizontal centre, providing symmetry.

A keyhole bridge will draw attention to eyes that are close together.

Facial features

You might also consider your facial features. What parts of your face do you want to make the most of with your spectacles? Our spectacles should embrace and celebrate the gloriously awkward differences of our varied visages.

Here are some of our more common facial differences, and the spectacles to suit them.

You might wish to avoid frames with a heavy browline, which will draw the eye upwards.

Wear a square frame to draw attention from your rounded dome, or a round frame to accentuate it as a signature feature. You might consider a bolder silhouette, to introduce a focal point.

Wear a round lens and thin metal frames to soften your features, or accentuate them with lines, edges, and corners.

A saddle bridge will caress the contours of the nose, giving it a shorter appearance. Conversely, a keyhole bridge will cause your spectacles to perch higher emphasising the length of your nose.

Heavy temples or browline will draw attention away from a larger than average nose.

A coterie of considered spectacle wearers.

Amelia wears Georgiana.

The sculpturally upswept contours of her spectacles act in harmony with her oval face, and accentuate her undulating browline. Its delicate saddle bridge caresses the form of her nose.

Wilfrid wears Carnegie.

Its soft-cornered square silhouette balances his round face, and the depth of the lens lengthens his head. His beard’s doing some of the work, but we’re not here to give you grooming tips.

Margaret wears Bidborough.

The deep panto lens suits her oblong face, while the keyhole bridge provides a focal point of sharp contrast and positions her eyes symmetrically. Bidborough’s boldness suits her character - take it from us.

Ultimately the choice is yours. Trust your instincts, and the instincts of those around you. We commend the renegades who break every rule in the book for a pair of spectacles nonetheless magnificent.

We have a range of tools to help: