Features: Sun Day

Mar
2003

On All Cylinders

Fashion Editor Gloria Nicola
Photographed by Nedjeljko Matura

Cylindrical lenses bring a new fashion bent to sunwear—literally. Imagine a piece of plastic molded around something cylindrical, such as a pipe. This is basically how cylinder lenses are created. The shape follows the natural curve of the face to provide a perfect fit, excellent eye protection and great design, proving once again that form and function work hand in hand.
From top: MICHAEL KORS 18330, wine-color, oversize oval super-imposed on upper eyerims, from CXD/ Charmant Exclusive Group • Circle No. 215; COBRA, double-bridge, oversize silver oval, from Oliver Peoples • Circle No. 217; VOGUE 3429-S, rose-color metal rectangle, from Luxottica Group • Circle No. 216 

Key Notes
• Cylindrical lenses bend around the face on an east-west curvature (the north-south axis is flat). In layman’s terms: It’s like a curved piece of film, right down to the way the lenses reflect light in neat little vertical strips.

• Cylindrical lenses appeal to the fashion sense because they eliminate
that ”bug-eye” look so common with larger frames—actually looking smaller than they are because they hug the perimeter of the face.

• From a technical sense, these lenses not only offer the sporty, high-tech look that’s so desirable, but also provide distortion-free vision.

 

|