Since Alessandro Michele took the helm at Gucci during the Fall 2015 collections, he’s made it a highlight of the season. The vintage-inspired assemblage of ruffles, silk, lace, and all forms of frippery (see: jewel-encrusted snakes) that have sauntered down his runways ingeniously remind its audience to rethink the pieces they already own, while they wait to get their hands on Michele’s latest creations. From the get-go, this has involved tie-neck blouses, embroidered fur coats, and oversize glasses that grew larger and more opulent with every passing season, rendering a beauty routine otherwise unimportant. Michele’s offerings strike such a chord because the off-kilter designs are both louche and conservative, youthful and sage, and, in the case of the glasses specifically, meant as much for the introvert as the extrovert.
Unlike Tom Ford’s Gucci, nothing about Michele’s vision for the storied house is straightforwardly sexy, but it is beguilingly interesting, the way all of the truly sexiest women are—many of whom, it should be noted, also wear glasses and very little makeup. Thought-provoking icons from Zadie Smith to Diane Keaton can be found behind signature frames so endemic to their spirit that it’s hard to imagine them without the veil of lenses. When Gloria Steinem became the man she wanted to marry, it was in a pair of shaded aviators and a bombshell blowout. Alice Walker “[fell] in love with the imagination” from behind tortoiseshell round frames, and a morning routine we’re betting consisted of moisturizer and lip balm. And Tina Fey became the hysterical voice of chic geeks everywhere when she took the helm of Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update desk in 2000 wearing her trademark rectangular glasses and shoulder-length layered cut. From Jenna Lyons’s hallmark black specs to Iris Apfel’s advanced approach to the oval, here, a look at 13 women who have made glasses their signature.
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