ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, September 23, 1996 TAG: 9609240023
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALMENA HUGHES
TO help them select eyeglass frames, Macon Thacker sometimes reads customers' palms. Therein the former Lens Lab eyewear consultant finds yellow, blue or pink skin undertones that determine whether a patient's complexion is respectively warm or cool. This, in turn, helps narrow selection of the best frame colors.
Palm peering notwithstanding, finding flattering eyewear really is more science than hocus-pocus .
In better-quality categories, with features such as stainless steel, titanium or memory metals compositions, spring hinges and hand-crafting, eyeglass frames can easily cost more than $300 without prescription or special lens treatments. Many high-end buyers see them as long-term investments as well as functional accessories.
At a recent trunk show at Tanglewood Mall, Neostyle Fashion Eyewear territory representative Joy Kayne and Thacker showed some elements of eyewear selection to watch for.
"The right color can do a lot to highlight and enhance the face," said Thacker, who described her own honey-like complexion, hair and eye coloring as "summer" or warm.
Frame color often is used alone or in combination with tinted lenses to brighten the eyes, minimize wrinkles or bags under the eyes highlight cheeks or brows and flatter the face.
Skin and hair are more important than eye color when selecting the best frame color. Generally, warm-colored people, with golden-blonde, flat-black, brown-gold, carrot or dirty-gray hair, need softer shaded frames. Cool people - with strawberry-blonde, platinum, dishwater-brown, blue-black, white and salt-and-pepper hair - look best in bolder, more intense eyewear. About 60 percent of the United States' population is in this group.
"Face shapes fall into seven basic categories," warm-colored Kayne said.
Most faces are a combination of round, oval, square, oblong, diamond or base-up or base-down triangle, with one quality dominating. For the most flattering effect, don't repeat that dominant shape in your frames.
In addition to shape, faces also can be methodically divided by width and length. Perfection - which hardly anyone attains - is five equal eye widths across and three equal sections from hairline to brow, brow to nose and nose to chin.
Thacker joked about an optometrist who witnessed a robbery: "When the police questioned him, the doctor couldn't remember how tall the robber was or how much he weighed. But he knew he had a wide PD," she said.
PD is pupil decentration, or how far apart a person's eyes are set - something the average person seldom notices. But such information can be a factor in finding frames to complement or correct facial shape, balance and proportions.
For example, a clear or unobtrusive bridge with darker colors at the outer edges of the frames can help widen close-set eyes. A dark-colored bridge can make wide-set eyes appear closer together. Raised temples give an instant face lift. Mid or low temples; deeper, narrower frames; or a low bridge visually shorten a long face. A keyhole bridge or a high or clear bridge can help lengthen a short nose. Always be sure the eyes are centered in the lenses, Kayne and Thacker said.
In the past, purchasers were usually advised to choose frames in proportion to face size. This is still true to some extent. However, this year's "in" frames are small, thin and mostly metal. Many styles come with hip-looking clip-on sun shades. Surprisingly, these little frames work equally well on big or small faces.
"Most people think their faces are larger than they actually are," Kayne observed.
"Smaller frames, within reason, actually are better," Thacker added, explaining that they make both the wearer's face and lenses appear thinner.
The best way to see if the smaller frames work for you is to try on some, Kayne and Thacker said. In the quest to find flattering frames, even they sometimes set aside science and resort to gut feelings, instinct, personal preference and trial and error.
"I just sort of know what works or doesn't," Kayne said. "I watch people's reactions when they try on a frame. It's been my experience that people want comfort and quality in their eyewear, but it's really a matter of what looks and feels right."
Take someone whose opinion you trust shopping with you, Kayne and Thacker suggested. Then, try following the rules, but unlike frames, don't be afraid to bend or break them.
LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Cindy Pinston. 1. THESE ARE OUT Eyewear consultant Maconby CNBThacker says big plastic frames are passe. 2. WRONG COMBINATION This
gray- and black-marble frame is too flat and square for Thacker's
facial features. 3. THAT'S MORE LIKE IT Thacker models
"academic"-style frames with a decorative bridge and hinges. 3. A
LITTLE LIFT The raised - and colorfull - temples give an instant
face lift. color.