Your Stylist: Getting new glasses with the help of some stellar salespeople
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Resident Image stylist and market editor Melissa Magsaysay soothes your sartorial woes in the weekly Your Stylist blog column:
I left my glasses in Paris. I’m borderline devastated because I totally loved them. Can you recommend a good place to get replacement glasses? The key to me is not just selection, but someone who can help me make a good choice. DB, Silver Lake
A bit of a bummer that your glasses were left behind in Paris, but luckily you live in L.A, land of specialty specs, from vintage to high end.
I personally love L.A. Eyeworks for their interesting, stylish and downright kooky frames. I also found them to be really helpful when it comes to picking out the right pair. They can also customize frames to fit your face shape or accommodate any special needs. They attached nose pads to my glasses because the bridge (or lack thereof) of my nose is too flat to wear plastic frames without nose pads. So they attached little plastic nose pads so the glasses would stay perched properly on my face. They are a little pricey but the sales people at the Beverly Boulevard location are really attentive and seem pretty passionate about getting someone the right frames for their face and taste.
Like L.A. Eyeworks, Gentlemen’s Breakfast in Echo Park (which isn’t far from your location) has a vast selection of interesting frames, but here the offering is vintage gems from Gucci, Diane von Furstenberg and Sophia Loren.
Society of the Spectacle is an eyewear shop housed in a quaint bungalow (complete with a lab on sight) and run by two opticians who sell frames from Costa Mesa-based Salt Optics, Oliver Peoples and bejeweled specs by Francis Klein of Paris.
And finally, friends have recommended a place called Eyetailor Boutique to me for its friendly and personal service as well as for carrying lines such as Andy Wolf and Paul Smith. They also do customized features to suit your specific needs such as custom shaping, custom nose pads and rimless lens mounting.
Ultimately, most small and well-curated optical shops should have fairly attentive and well-informed salespeople who are passionate about eyewear, especially at the aforementioned spots, which all seem to take a lot of pride in their eyewear offerings as well as pairing them with the right faces.
Weigh in, what are your favorite places to get good-looking glasses in L.A.?
Send your style queries to melissa.magsaysay@latimes.com
-- Melissa Magsaysay
Photos: top: L.A Eyeworks ‘Kowalski’ frames/L.A. Eyeworks; middle: Salt Optics/Salt Optics; bottom: L.A. Eyeworks ‘Director’ frames/L.A. Eyeworks