Ok. We all know that I’m all for Girls Who Wear Glasses. I wear them, Pippa wears them in One Good Earl Deserves a Lover, and Gloria Steinem, Hillary Clinton and Tina Fey wear them.
But, of course, it’s 2013. And we all went to high school. Which means…some girls who should wear glasses don’t want to. And so…they wear contacts. To tackle this important subgenre of ladies in lenses, I went to an expert. My dear friend Lauren Willig, author of the amazing Pink Carnation series:
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We’ve neglected an important category here: girls who pretend they don’t wear glasses.
I was one of those for most of Middle School, which meant I spent a lot of time blundering into and over things. (Ouch! Who left that backpack in the middle of the hallway?) Of course, it didn’t help that I had accidentally broken off one of the earpieces of my glasses. Rather than tell my parents, I did what any sensible adolescent would do: I spent the rest of the year in class holding up the glasses to my face by one earpiece, like a dowager with a lorgnette.
All I can say is, thank goodness for contact lenses.
Don’t pretend I’m the only one. I strongly suspect that my heroine Emma Delagardie, of The Garden Intrigue, is a secret glasses wearer.
In public, she’s a social butterfly, never without a ready quip or a glass of champagne in her hand. In private, however, she’s a nerd manqué. She might pretend that she only studied up on engineering and drainage techniques as a means of affecting a reconciliation with her late husband, but the fact that she’s still at it, five years after his death, strongly suggests to me that our Emma is studying engineering because… she enjoys it. Of course, when Robert Fulton (yes, that Robert Fulton, who’s also hanging around Napoleon’s court, inventing steamboats and other interesting things) praises her skills and thanks her for her helpful and insightful suggestions,
Emma pretends it’s all nothing. But we know better.
Just like we know she secretly wears glasses.
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So much fun! So, here’s the part where we get to honor those ladies who don’t wear glasses (after all, anyone could wear contacts!)
Head over to the comment section and tell Lauren and me about the woman you admire most. Bespectacled or not, and one winner will receive a copy of The Garden Intrigue! (US Only)
February 12th, 2013 at 9:08 am
I “pretend” I don’t wear them a lot. I can’t wear them for reading or working at the computer, but I NEED them for driving and some other functions. I rarely wear them at home.
At church, I use them the opposite of others. I take them off for reading & Hymns, on for the sermon and other rote stuff. People probably think I’m crazy.
February 12th, 2013 at 9:58 am
I have had to wear glasses since 1st grade. I have never been able to wear contacts. I’ll never get to pull off the movie style transformation of semi-geeky to super hawt smokin’ momma simply by taking down my pony tail and leaving my glasses at home. Unless being slightly blind and tripping over my own feet while sporting weird frizzy hair becomes the new Thing…lol
February 12th, 2013 at 10:01 am
I can’t see without my glasses.. first thing on in the morning.. I’m nearsighted in one and farsighted in the other… Now, my mom got contacts in the 1960′s because her dad hated her in glasses..and those glasses were ugly!! We spend a lot of our growing up years looking for lost contacts… then she added reading glasses to the mix….lots of years of her asking…have you seen my glasses??? Yes we have Mom, they are on top of your head….
February 12th, 2013 at 11:24 am
I’ve been wearing glasses since I was about 10. Myopia runs in the family. You will never find me without them glasses! They’re constantly sitting there on my nose and ears.. I don’t know about other people, but I feel naked and vulnerable without them. And I love how I can treat myself with a new pair every year or 2 years – going for different styles. I have never been able to wear contacts though – finger in my eye? nuhhuh, not me!
February 12th, 2013 at 4:06 pm
Hillary Clinton
February 12th, 2013 at 4:21 pm
I wore contacts for years and am back to glasses now. As long as I see clearly, I’m a happy camper. Thanks for the post.
February 12th, 2013 at 5:28 pm
I wish I could wear my glasses but instead they make me feel sick and give me headaches. I think glasses look more professional and I honestly enjoy wearing them, if not just for fashion reasons.
February 12th, 2013 at 5:47 pm
I had to wear them since grade 6 and hated it. So I can totally relate!
My favorite is Lisa Loeb. She looks pretty AND she wears glasses.
February 12th, 2013 at 6:09 pm
I pretend I don’t wear glasses. It is kind of funny my hubby always calls me out! Oy! And I most admire my mom more than any woman… she is awesome and raised 3 kids on a job that degraded her as a woman all to ensure we had a roof over our head…
February 12th, 2013 at 9:04 pm
I have say my mother. She raised three kids with a bit of help from my grandmother. :)
February 12th, 2013 at 10:52 pm
I really admire Eleanor Roosevelt. She has some great quotes.
February 12th, 2013 at 11:19 pm
I wore glasses all through high school and most of college. Then I finally got contacts. Now, I rarely wear glasses out in public. I dread the day when I have to get reading glasses!
I admire Sacagawea–pointing the way for those clueless men with a baby strapped to her back!
February 13th, 2013 at 2:51 pm
Gah. I’ve worn glasses since Kindergarten. They’d been my nemesis since the first classmate labeled them pop-bottles until I was well into adulthood. I tried different style frames, the thinnest lenses for my prescription, colored lenses (that was tragic), but was never able to pull off the I’m-so-chic-and-knowledgeable look. Being nearsighted with an astigmatism means I can’t see a blooming thing without my glasses. Unfortunately that didnt stop me from ditching them – even to drive if there was a hot guy involved (cringe!). I bought an insanely expensive pair of contacts in college, rarely ever wearing my glasses. I was forced back into my glasses when I about blinded myself trying to put a contact with (only a tiny!) rip in my eye. I’m embarrased to say that I was married with a child by that point… only 21, but still. So 16 or so years later I can say that I’m proud of how I’ve evolved in the way I perceive myself. It takes me an age to pick new glasses, but I’m hardly ever seen without them. I do still own contacts. I feel a bit more sassy with them on, but only in the I’m-wearing-a-pair-of awesome-heels sense. Gone is the god-I-look-like-crap-with-these-glasses attitude. Great post! I loved Pippa’s story and it’s so neat to see that there are more books for my tbr list!
February 14th, 2013 at 2:13 am
I’ve been wearing glasses for a long time. But I admit when I was in junior high I had a crush on a boy in my homeroom class and ditched the glasses. Didn’t get the boy and failed a test because I couldn’t read the questions. lol
My late Mom. She was a wonder woman who loved everyone and had this hug belly aching laugh that every single person always remembered.
Carol L.
February 15th, 2013 at 11:37 pm
My mother inspires me the most because she’s the first woman I grew up knowing. She doesn’t wear spectacles but she SHOULD! lol She’s wonderful in all that she does, never giving up on me.
February 16th, 2013 at 10:39 am
my mother and my grandma inspire me the most. They both wear spectacles and they are unique in their own way
February 18th, 2013 at 10:58 pm
Ah, contact lenses… Ever since I discovered their magic, I’ve been avoiding my glasses like the plague. It’s only in the recent years that I’ve realized that I’m PROUD to be a girl with glasses – and sometimes, I wear them out without qualms :)
February 21st, 2013 at 4:25 pm
I am one of those girls who pretended she didn’t need them until may grades started to fall and my parents finally consented to contact lenses. As I get closer to 40 (ugh) I just don’t care anymore and I wear my glasses more than the contacts.
Mt favorite glass wearing female? My mom wears glasses and does not care, but she is cute as button, so I have to say my math teacher in high school who saw a lot more in me than I did myself.