For the trendy hippies amongst you there was the classic John Lennon frame, a small metal with thin plastic rims that clipped in place. (Or not!) The joy of these was that the side arm attached to the front, so if you bashed them then the lens, the side, and the whole spec frame collapsed into a mangled pile of metal and glass.

The NHS stepped back from supplying our eye wear, and with the exception of Elvis Costello, The Proclaimers, and Harry Hill, we all moved on from our square plastic glasses. The eighties exploded in a riot of colour, huge shapes, and total lack of taste. (You only have the catch the opening credits of Ashes to Ashes to see what I mean) We also had a penchant for tints in lurid shades of pink and burgundy.

How times change – in 2009 the 524 is the epitome of geek chic – see Madonna, Lily Allen or Mark Ronson. The trend for colour is back, but this time in more subtle layers, patterns or laminates. We love detail, bling, and pattern – for boys and girls! Designer names are everywhere, and even Marc Jacobs and Paul Smith have taken some inspiration from those classic British NHS creations. Those were the good old days!

If in the eighties we thought our hair, shoulder pads and lapels were big, we really went for it with our glasses. For girls the fashion was huge round plastic frames  – with lots of colour but not the detail we see on trendy eyewear today. Colours were solid brights or more translucent materials which blended colours into one another. We even had funky clear plastics with fabric inlaid in them, to add pattern.

A cool look was a coloured tint that matched the frame, so for instance we saw lots of blue frames with bright blue lenses, or yellow and green tints were also popular. If coloured frames were not for you, then there was always white, delicious teamed with graduated tints that faded from grey or pink.  Rimless eyewear was huge too – and the lenses were brightly tinted and cut into facetted shapes.

For men it was the Aviator shape, squared off or in an exaggerated teardrop, in bright shiny gold, silver or black. Nearly all frames had a double bridge bar, or for you hippy types there was still the ‘John Lennon’ frame, the iconic rolled gold NHS frame, very thin metal and very round. Eyewear was thicker and heavier in those days, so not only were your specs highly camp but you had a big dent in your nose. Good job Gene Hunt makes it all look so cool…………