Ashes to Ashes is back – and our thoughts turn to dodgy stonewashed jeans, white leather jackets and other iconic 80’s items of clothing. The music was great but the look left a lot to be desired……..especially the eyewear!

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…………