Flipping Over Shades

If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, beauty can be on the eye of the beholder too, in the form of flip-up or clip-on sunglasses. A lot of fashion-forward eyes are wearing them these days.

The flip-up sunglasses consist of a single pair of little, round glasses--stylishly reminiscent of Andy Warhol or the Great Gatsby whose gray-tinted lenses are flipped up whenever the wearer strolls away from the sun. Underneath the flipped-up tinted lenses is not another pair of plain lenses, but simply air--and the wearer’s naked eyes.

“Broad-thinking types buy them,” says Peter Fischer, owner of InVision in Encino, where the glasses sell for about $98. “They’re arty; they’re high-tech. The Melrose crowd likes them. They put them on, and they laugh like hell. It’s a kick for them to walk in somewhere, flip up the sunglasses and look at all the shocked faces.”

But the good-looking glasses, which Fischer describes as “fashion or art for the face,” have practical aspects too. “The thing is, they stay on your face,” Fischer says. “You never have to worry about leaving your sunglasses behind.” Also, “you don’t have to get tennis elbow from taking your sunglasses on and off,” he adds.

Another trend in sunglasses is the refined clip-on lenses, which are a stylish far cry from the flimsy, generic, tinted clip-ons of yore. “These are better than the old clip-ons because they’re hooked right onto the frame so as not to damage the lenses. They sell for about $30,” Fischer says.

One hip way to wear the new clip-ons is to choose a set of clip-on lenses different in shape from the eyeglasses you attach them to. This look is often seen in underground clubs. “We call that the forced fit or contradictory look,” Fischer says with a laugh.