Why do so many Chinese girls . . .

[anonymoose]

Why do so many Chinese girls wear glasses frames without any lenses? I don't know if this phenomenon is limited to China or not, but this is the only place that I've noticed it, and it's not just been one or two, but I've seen this several times. What gives?

[roddy]

Because it's fashionable. Like with zoot suits when we were young.

(tell 'em their lenses are dirty, that'll fox 'em)

[anonymoose]

I can't say I have a particularly strong impression of zoot suits. You must be showing your age here. Anyway, zoot suits may look daft, but they still serve the function of clothing. Lens-less glasses on the other hand are completely superfluous.

[Yvonne]

Haha, it's so common around my city or maybe in China. People are not shortsighted, but the glasses without lenses can hidden their black pouches or beautiful eyes; on the other hand, it maybe modern and cool in their eyes.

[Brian US]

I see this fashion trend more often among Koreans here in Beijing. Now Koreans and baseball caps is another story...

Large framed glasses also seem popular in California. Larger frames will have bigger lenses, so maybe they want the style without the coke bottle effect.

[Benzi]

Two years ago it was mostly or only korean girls that had those, not really chinese, so I guess it spilled over? I think shows like ugly betty are the source of this fashion..

[skylee]

I wish I didn't need to wear glasses (with really thick lenses). Ai ~~~~

[Meng Lelan]

I noticed this trend among Chinese friends (guys too) here in the US starting about five years ago.

[Brian US]

The glasses with no frames, but just the lenses are also very popular. That didn't really catch on in the States.

[xiaocai]

Huh, frames without lenses? I wear frameless and have always thought that the less weight my nose has to bear the better...

[Lu]

It's not just in China, this fashion (or the variant of frames with normal glass, not lenses) seems to have caught on in Holland as well. It makes some people look better. Just like some people with bad eyesight choose to wear glasses and not contacts because it looks better on them, so some people who don't need any help seeing well still wear glasses because it looks good on them (or they think it looks good on them).

[skylee]

Think 裴勇俊.

[crazy-meiguoren]

Think 裴勇俊.

I think he's trying to look like 哈利波特.

[xiaocai]

Considering that he started his career wearing glasses (frames) at around 1995, I'd say it's more likely to be the other way around...

[crazy-meiguoren]

Maybe 罗琳 was a fan, then.

[crazy-meiguoren]

This is an interesting trend. 10 years ago my daughter bought frames with plain glass (not real lenses) because they were popular with the middle school crowd at the time. I had forgotten about them until I read this thread.

[Brian US]

I've worn glasses since I was 7 years old. On the first day of school my mom told me if anyone makes fun of me I should respond,"four eyes are better than two!" When I got to school all my classmates gathered around to say how cool my specs were. Awesome 90's wire frames with flexible tips that wrapped around my ears.

[jbradfor]

I've worn glasses since I was 8 years old. I couldn't see without them, so I didn't really care what people thought of them.

[abcdefg]

Why do so many Chinese girls wear glasses frames without any lenses?

A couple of my Chinese friends who are teachers have told me they think glasses make them look a bit older and more distinguished. Since they don't need corrective lenses, they just wear the frames.

[Meng Lelan]

I went to visit an older Chinese friend in Beijing a few years ago and she actually moaned when I told her my kids were starting to wear glasses even though they weren't in middle school yet. I was really irritated by her "how awful" attitude because I felt it was better they were having glasses than if they were, G-d forbid, totally blind like some of my students and having to read braille.