First, Andrew Garfield presenting an award at the Golden Globes, then Drew Starkey in Queer, to most recently Jonathan Bailey in Jurassic World Rebirth – each one bespectacled, each one turning the plot into background noise. Let’s be clear, the glasses stay on, and so do my intrusive thoughts.
What once belonged to the realm of bookish love interests and aging professors has now become the ultimate accessory for Hollywood’s most recent films and award shows it seems. But don't be fooled, these characters aren’t wearing them to hide. They wear them with intention, with purpose.
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In Queer, we meet Drew Starkey who is a mysterious student who is reserved and predominantly inaccessible. Wearing these glasses, we get the idea that he is shielding himself from the world, constructing a barrier between his inner thoughts and those who seek to understand him. The frames, slightly oversized and academic, add to his air of detachment, suggesting a mind preoccupied with something beyond the immediate, as if he exists in a space just outside of reach. Whether he is observing or avoiding, the effect is the same, he doesn’t just see the world differently, he sees himself differently through the lenses.
drew starkey as eugene allerton in queer (2024). pic.twitter.com/vaiVlCO6pw
— sam (@dickinsonfilm) January 19, 2025
And whether it's a serious intent as Eugene Allerton was, or for Garfield to purely assist his eyes in reading out the winner for a Golden Globe, it seems Hollywood has developed a curious case of poor eyesight, and the prescription is clear: wire frames, tinted lenses, and just the right amount of intellectual aloofness. It seems this year in films, the new leading man isn’t just embodying a blend of charisma, confidence, and emotional depth, he’s optically burdened. But off screen we have been seeing a similar phenomenon play out on the runway. Miu Miu’s Spring/Summer 2024 show saw models striding out in thin tortoiseshell frames that nodded to a bookish intellectualism, while Saint Laurent’s Fall/Winter Mens 2024 collection embraced tinted aviators and thin spectacles, wraparound styles, a continuation of Anthony Vaccarello’s ongoing obsession with louche, 80s-inflected glamour. It seems, in both Hollywood and fashion, the new leading man (or woman) is seeing the world through lenses, distorted, refined, or otherwise.
It’s not just a style choice, perhaps there is a shift in archetype. Gone are the hyper-masculine, rugged action heroes. Instead, we have the thinking man, the intellectual, the guy who might read Patti Smith in the bath. The sex appeal is in the subtleties: a push up the bridge of the nose, a slow removal mid-scene, the quiet devastation of a nearsighted gaze.
We’re in the era of glasses. And let me be very clear, that the glasses remain on. Below, we have curated a few of our favourite glasses so that you too can achieve Hollywood's latest go-to look.
MIU MIU Round Frames
GUCCI Gold Frames
BURBERRY Dark Havana Frames
CHLOE Brown Frames
SAINT LAURENT Black Frames
COACH Gold Frames
TIFFANY&CO. Frames
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