Chloe Sevigny works the geek chic look

Glasses never used to be cool. At school they were the mark of the nerd, the geek and the swot, while in the office they were the accessory of choice for the ageing secretary or the dorky IT guy. But over the last five years, the humble spectacles have experienced an astonishing change of fortune. Once a chore to wear, glasses have become, whisper it, fashionable. Vogue photographer, Terry Richardson has made aviator specs his trademark and they’ve been spotted adorning the faces of hipster celebs such as Chloe Sevigny, Mark Ronson and Kanye West. Once nerdy, glasses are having a serious fashion moment, so what changed?

“We started seeing glasses making an impact on street style quite a while ago,” says Jaana Jatryi, CEO of trend forecaster, Trendstop. “Since then they’ve been adopted by cool bands and singers like Lady Gaga. She’s played a big part in bringing glasses to the mass market.” “The geek chic look started with London’s club kids,” says Fiona Pain of online glasses store, Want Glasses. “At the same time, they were being worn by the likes of Lily Allen and Chloe Sevigny which meant that people started seeing glasses as fashion accessories.” “Glasses have this great intellectual vibe,” continues Jaana. “Mad Men has been a big influence on this season’s collections and the sexy secretary look really lends itself to glasses.”And with mainstream labels such as Tom Ford, Prada and Marc Jacobs including glasses in their collections, it’s small wonder that glasses have become as desirable an accessory as the latest it bag.

While Lady Gaga and the cast of Mad Men have helped to popularise glasses, the spectacles renaissance has also seen the emergence of new talent specialising in frames such as Retro Super Future, Herrlicht and Anglo American Optical. “People are looking for different ways to express themselves and the huge variety of glasses out there makes them ideal for this,” says Andreas Licht, the Herr behind Herrlicht. “It’s not just people who need glasses for their sight anymore.” Twice winner of the Silmo D’Or, the optical industry’s certificate of excellence, Licht’s unique wooden frames have become cult items in their own right. “I worked with wood long before I started my wooden frames collection,” he says. “I was always drawn to it as it’s a wonderful material which is warm, individual and natural so for me, it was an obvious choice to try and invent the first frames made 100 percent from wood. I never use metal or plastic parts in the glasses.”

Like a Chanel 2:55, classic designs such as Licht’s wooden frames and Mykita’s austere Giovanni glasses are wear-forever pieces, but as with other accessories, the rest of the specs world is subject to trends. So what’s cool now? “Round glasses are definitely a big emerging trend at the moment,” says Fiona. “It’s been a bit of a slow burner, but since round sunglasses took off, glasses are catching up. The Rayban Wayfarer and Clubmaster styles are also really popular.”

“Celebrities have been coming over all Clarke Kent this season and sporting a classic black Wayfarer frame,” says Sarah Nice of Sunglasses Shop. “The preppy trend has been a runaway success this year and it’s taken the classic frame along with it.” But if this season is all about the preppy, next season, says Jaana, is going to be a different story all together. “S/S11 is all about brights,” she says. “We’re seeing a lot of neon yellows, greens and reds, and there’s also going to be a lot of floral frames. Vintage-inspired pieces will also be big. Marc Jacob’s S/S11 eye wear collection has lots.”

Herrlicht's hand-crafted wooden glasses

Whether you’re into brights, stark black or quirky tortoiseshell, ensuring your look is more chic than geek means finding frames to suit your face shape. While oval face shapes can wear just about anything, for everyone else, picking the right frames means trying on as many pairs as possible until you find something that fits. “Heart-shaped faces – that’s a defined, pointed chin with wide cheek bones and forehead – look great with a more quirky, retro shaped pair of glasses, such as rectangular or ‘cat-eyed’ spectacle,” advises Sarah, “while round face shapes can add definition with a pair that extends out past the widest part of the face.”

“I think that knowing what you like goes a long way to helping you choose a pair of glasses,” says Fiona, “but there are styles that suit some face shapes more than others. For example square faces tend to look good in styles that have a slightly oval shape, while long faces suit frames that are defined at either the top or bottom. Oval faces can get away with anything.”

Once a necessary evil, glasses have become one of this – and next – season’s hottest accessories. Seamlessly in sync with winter’s satchels, naff knits and cutesy kilts, glasses are great for giving your wardrobe an instant update and lend a pleasingly intellectual vibe to your look. The former nerd’s favourite is now the stylista’s must-have, so what’s next? Train track braces and a frayed bag of text books? It might just be time to get your geek on.