New Eye Glasses

[Jilmac]

On April 15th I went to the JC Penney optical dept and had a complete eye exam and ordered three new pairs of glasses. I selected one male frame and two very cute femme frames. When the optical tech asked me who the femme frames were for, I told her they were for me. I told her that I was a crossdresser and I needed the feminine frames to complete my look. Oh, I forgot to mention, I was in drab when all this happened. The tech was very helpful with my selection of frames and was also curious about my lifestyle. I told her that I might be en femme when I came to pick up my new glasses.

Today (Apr 24th) I went to Penneys to pick them up. Being a beautiful warm spring day, I dressed in a pair of girl jeans, a red top over a black cami, and a pair of black suede wedgies. I entered the mall through another major department store, did some browsing in the cosmetics department, then continued on into the central mall until I came to Penney's. I had to walk to the back of the store to get to the optical dept, past SAs and other shoppers.

The optical tech recognized me when I told her who I was, and she flashed me a big smile when she saw how I was dressed. Again, she was very helpful, making sure the new frames fit comfortably and complimented me on how the femme glasses and sunglasses looked on me. I was elated I wore my new femme glasses out of the store and decided to go to a few other stores just to browse. I must have blended in quite well because nobody in any of the stores saw me as anything but a woman.

I had a bite to eat in the food court and had to walk half way through the mall to get back to my car. I think I might have been read by one woman who I made eye contact with, but other than that, I spent about two and a half hours at the mall without so much as a sideways glance from anybody. I want to tell myself that it was my new glasses that helped me pass. I drove home wearing the new femme sunglasses and happy that I got them because now my femme look is complete. It has really been a great day.

[Kate17]

That is great ! You give me something to aspire to.

Kate17

[Ellen James]

Congratulations! and very interesting because I was just thinking about eyeglass styles today and thinking about whether to get a separate pair or trying to find a style that could look appropriate whatever I was wearing!

[Claire Cook]

Femme glasses do make a difference! I've gone through two sets of frames. My optician said she wanted to see me wearing them en femme, so one day I just had to walk into the store and show her!

[luvSophia]

...I was just thinking about eyeglass styles today and thinking about whether to get a separate pair or trying to find a style that could look appropriate whatever I was wearing!

For me anyway the "gender neutral" look just doesn't work. I need a pair of glasses that definitely says femme. I pick up readers at the drugstore that work for me.

[Ellen James]

For me anyway the "gender neutral" look just doesn't work. I need a pair of glasses that definitely says femme. I pick up readers at the drugstore that work for me.

Sophia - thinking about it some more you may be right (and I just did some quick online shopping for women's eyewear) after all. Certainly the styles out there now are apparently quite different for men and women (and some of the women's styles are very appealing). I was also thinking that different eyeglass styles would also help distinguish Ellen from my male appearance when out about (maybe, someday - who knows)

[Persephone]

It has really been a great day.

Very cool, Jill!

Enjoy your new glasses!

For those who want femme glasses on a budget, if you have your prescription there are a couple of on-line sites that may be of help:

Zenni Optical has complete pairs, single vision prescription included, for as little as $8 a pair! To the best of my knowledge, they offer a 50% refund on returns within 30 days.

Many of the women at my opthamologists' office wear Zenni's glasses. I found that out when I complimented one of them on her really cute glasses and she told me she'd paid $8 for them!

goggles4u.com sells frames for about $13 with about $17 to $45 for your prescription. I've been told that they provide for full-refund on frames and 50% on lenses.

(If you want to look at the goggles4u site, make sure you don't go to "googles4you" by mistake, that appears to be a search engine for safety goggles!)

39 dollar glasses.com/ seems to offer what they say - single vision glasses for $39, bifocals for $79. Their return policy seems to be that if they cannot re-cut your lenses to fit in a different frame you can exchange them for a new pair or get a refund minus a 30% restocking fee.

(Dislaimer: I have no connection to any of these firms that I know of other than as a potential customer. Prices and policies expressed here are for your evaluation purposes only and may not reflect the actual prices or policies in effect at any particular time).

[DAVIDA]

Hl Jill!
I got my pair right before going to Southern Comfort in 07. I wear them all the time now since my male pair broke. Mine are the ones that change. That way I don't have to buy two pair.

["Mary"]

Hi Jill, I got a pair of fem glasses at JCP last Summer and like them. Mine are sort of ovaly heart shaped and have a purple tint to the metal. I like them a lot. I did all my shopping and picking up in guy mode. No questions, no cd discussion. I might have shown the SA a picture of Mary if she asked though.

[Diane Smith]

I have four pairs of glasses. All of them came from the women's side of the display, but my "everyday" pair is decidedly unisex and really looks just like several of the men's frames I've had before. I hardly ever wear those when I'm pretty, although I could probably pull it off. I mainly like the idea of knowing that my "boy" glasses are really "girl" glasses.

The others are all distinctly feminine and include one very expensive designer pair that I wear the most often when I'm dressed.

I've had only very positive experiences in optical shops -- they've all been totally cool about the whole idea, no matter how I was dressed at the time.

- Diane

[jenna_woods]

that's great I get mine at a drugstore, they are as good as my regular glasses, and they blend with my fem side.

[Jacueen]

What a coincidence!

I spent the afternoon today going to four different stores looking for glasses (I use drugstore readers.) All the ones I found were too unisex - I was looking for definitely female glasses. So I came home, had dinner, then went online. After a decent bit of browsing I finally settled on two pair of oversize tortoise-shell readers and a pair of rhinestone accented bifocal sunglasses.

Immediately after placing my order i came here to explore a bit. What's the first new topic I saw? This one about buying 2 pair of glasses and a pair of sunglasses!

You are so right - the glasses you wear really do make a difference in how others see you. Without getting too deep into a discussion of psychology, I think it's because people are always subconsciously looking for cues that make it easy to interpret their surroundings. Overtly feminine glasses are so prominent on your face that, on a cursory glance, they automatically trigger a "oh, that's a woman" reaction.

Jacueen

[boardpuppy]

Although I don't wear glasses full time, I do wear befocals mainly for reading. This tidbit will come in handy when I have to start wearing glasses continuiously.

Hugs,
Alice

[tashaly]

I have to second Persephone on buying online, changed my life! They're so cheap I can buy two or three pair for what I used to pay for one. I also find many styles can look sharp on both guys and girls--for the most part, many of these sites don't really make the distinction, in fact, they even let you try them on both men's and women's faces. If you need more assurance or inspiration (or discount codes!), I go to http://glassyeyes.blogspot.com/, which links to most the same sites above, with some reviews and stuff.

So, glasses, totally hot. Good luck with it!

Natasha

[Claire Cook]

The on-line suggestions are great -- certainly the prices! But I wonder about fit and trying them on? Part of the fun of buying mine was having Janice (our optician) try several on me (en drab) and helping me decide which looked best. For my last pair she chose a pink and blue frame that I really like ("these look playful on you", she said). When I came to the shop dressed, she said we made the right choice.

[Paula Siemen]

I recently got some fem glasses as well. I was laid off from my job, but hada significant amoutn of money in my fles account to use up, about $1600. So I went to my optician and had my eyes examined, then to the mall to Eye Masteres and picke out five pairs of glasses. One male pair for indoors, one male pair of sunglasses, one pair of readers, one cute pair of red metal oval shaped frames for Paula to wear indoors and and nice big lens, "Jackie O", black framed pair of sunglasses. I really love the fem glasses, they really complete the fem look when I need glasses and its so much easier to not have to be self concious about your glasses being boyish when you need to wear them.

The sales girl at Eye Masters was confused when I was picking out frames for both male and female, as I was in drab mode. My wife had been there with me to pick out my male frames but left, pissed off because I didn't get the frames she thought I should get. I had to just the the sales girl I was a cross dresser, sraight out. She was a little taken back, and just shrugged it off as what ever, not really agreeing with it, but going ahead and writing my order. When I went back to pick them up, she was not on schedule so some other guy fitted my frames which was probably better as do to time constriants I was in guy mode anyway. Some of the frames still need better fitting and I want to go back to the mall and shop for dresses. Hopefully, the original sales girl will be back when I go and she can se how well the frames look and how fem I can look.