Eye-Catching Reading Glasses

Cool off this summer with these coral-colored glasses that come with a coordinating case. $21 at select specialty stores and www.peeperspecs.com.

See the world with Eyebobs Butch readers in a kaleidoscope of blue. $75 at select area specialty and optical stores and www.eyebobs.com.

Go for the neon in See Eyewear’s Broadway collection, $59 at See, 1261 Wisconsin Ave. NW; 202-337-5988.

A duo of bright color combinations take the seriousness out of reading glasses.These Chelsea readers from See Eyewear sell for $69 at See,1261 Wisconsin Ave. NW; 202-337-5988.

See Eyewear’s Madison readers riff on the shape of the traditional for a more individual appeal. $69 at See, 1261 Wisconsin Ave. NW; 202-337-5988.

I’D ALWAYS PRIDED myself on my terrific vision, so when I hit my forties and found that I couldn’t read the phone book (yes, it was a while ago), I decided to deal with my disappointing new status by finding the best-looking reading glasses I could. There wasn’t much of a choice then either for variety of styles or places to find them, outside the utilitarian options of an optician or a drug store. At any rate, I went the prescription (and much more expensive) route and eventually located a relatively attractive pair.

Moving forward a decade or so (who’s counting), a lot has changed. All the media attention on our increasingly aging population has given eyewear companies and designers the incentive to manufacture fashionable, quality reading glasses for a clientele not willing to settle for boring and bland.

Here are ones that caught our eye from Peepers, Eyebobs and See.

–Janet Kelly