Reading: Luxury Readers for the Style-Obsessed

Three middle-aged women are walking down a block in New York City. They have just come from an art exhibit given by an amazing reinventor—a sixty-something woman who used to be an art director for one of the toniest magazines on earth, but who refuses to curb her creative impulses and instead just keeps producing. She tells them, “I just can’t stop.”

The art is gorgeous; the venue is packed; the event is inspiring. It’s time for dinner and the directions to the restaurant are displayed on a smartphone, in an app. “Who can see?” I ask, hoping someone is near-sighted enough that I won’t have to spend five minutes digging my glasses out of my backpack. Jeannine cracks up: “This is what it’s come to?! Which one of us can see?” Tears of laughter spill down her cheeks.

Alas, yes, this is what it has come to. And according to the American Optometric Association, our ability to see things like a printed page or a computer screen close-up begins to decline around age 41 and continues through age 60 — when, thankfully, it stops. Presbyopia, as this problem is called, is a normal change in the eye’s ability to focus and explains why you’re suddenly hunting for more than candlelight to read a menu. So that’s the bad news.

The good news is, your eyesight can decline in style — with the fabulous new readers from Look Optic. Created by a team that used to work at Oliver Peoples, Look Optic is trying to disrupt the drugstore reader business by offering, at $68, a sturdier, more stylish, upscale alternative. These glasses have a beautiful, rich sandblasted finish, prescription level lenses, and a one-year guarantee. Look Optic sent me a pair of honey-colored Abbeys to try and I keep them in my bedside drawer for reading clothing care labels or books before bed. I love that I no longer have to truck downstairs for my heavy duty glasses. With three styles in five colors, Look Optic’s readers are sophisticated enough to wear anywhere. Now, if I can just keep my husband Jeff’s hands off them…

Look for the special CoveyClub offer for Nest and Roost members from Look Optic in the next Letter from Lesley