Over the past few years, glasses have been an integral part of defining some of the most prevalent fashion trends. The now-infamous rectangular wired eyeglasses worn by Giselle Bündchen in The Devil Wears Prada are responsible for igniting the still fizzy “office siren” aesthetic, and perhaps an entire fashion movement of stealth sexiness.
But in 2025, I have the sneaking suspicion that big, flamboyant, and borderline ugly eyeglasses will be hard to ignore—and not just because they are big, flamboyant, and borderline ugly. After all, within the first few months of 2025, Visionworks has already reported that oversized, bright colored, and statement frames are some of the most popular among customers.
I see flashy eyeglasses pop up on the street, online, and perhaps most telling, on Bella Hadid, who is something like a north star when it comes to these things. I have now come to the realization that glasses growing in popularity in 2025 aren’t contributing to another curiously specific aesthetic or trend, but developing as a potential return to authenticity and self-expression.
I’ve worn glasses since the one fateful day in fifth grade when I realized that I could not see the board. I, ignorant of the concept of healthcare (and even more so of its cost), was actually excited about the new opportunity to pick out my own frames. However, when I started middle school and that good ol’ frontal lobe formation reached the point of developing insecurities, I was suddenly all too aware of my glasses. They had the unique ability to destroy the carefully curated nonchalant persona I had been trying very hard to present. In other words, I thought they made me look like a loser.
The very last thing I wanted to do was stand out. So, I made a distinct effort to avoid frames that were too shapely or loud, worried that one wrong choice would give other kids a reason to notice me. My choice, if you’re so curious, ended up being a rectangular pair of black wire frames with a blue interior that, looking back, were terribly ugly. At the time, I found them inconspicuous enough to give the illusion that they weren’t even there (spoiler: they were not). Glasses didn’t feel like a fashion opportunity for most of my lifetime, and I wouldn’t say that goes without reason.
The “nerd look,” which is so culturally significant that one could easily find it as a Halloween costume, first came to be in the 80s. Revenge of the Nerds is credited with associating clunky, too-big-for-the-face eyeglasses with the socially inept, but this stereotype outlived the film and lingered throughout the 90s and early 2000s. Think Laney Boggs from She’s All That or Daria’s titular character, whose large glasses simultaneously signified a lack of and protest against popularity.
Subsequently, glasses experienced an unprecedented recontextualization as a result of the geek-chic movement of the early 2010s. Suddenly, freak was fun and quirks were coveted (say galaxy leggings three times in front of a mirror and the latte-obsessed version of yourself, mid mustache phase, will appear before you), which ultimately led to big, nerdy eyeglasses being embraced in mainstream fashion for the first time.
The sheer variety of glasses popular in 2025 suggests that people aren’t incorporating specs into their wardrobe to achieve a certain “look” the same way they were in 2012. Sure, there are certain popular pairs like the odd little oval-shaped Miu Miu Regard eyeglasses, but the general interest in eyeglasses seems to be more about the opportunity to personalize a compulsory aspect of your wardrobe.
The St. Louis rapper Sexyy Red is known for sporting a simple pair of black acetate Ray-Bans on and off the stage. In a 2023 interview with Montreality, she explained that people have gratefully reached out to her for inspiring them to unapologetically start wearing glasses again in their adulthood.
As juvenile as it might sound, many people still doubt their ability to pull off a pair of glasses. Sometimes I’ll catch my 18-year-old sister squinting over something at the store just to find out that she didn’t wear her glasses (which are square-shaped and transparent, in case you were curious) because they make her “look weird.” But that doesn’t seem to be the case recently, with “glasses makeup” routines, which centralize the blush placement, incorporate more powder, and emphasize the eyes, popping up over the past few months. I am convinced that people are collectively starting to unlearn their glasses-related insecurities.
The culture seems to have climbed atop that infamously indecisive pendulum and swung wayward into territory we may have never seen before, in which all glasses are “in.” Perhaps this new wave of intentionally conspicuous eyewear could be a sign that people are growing tired of the whole “beauty is sacrifice” thing, no longer content with putting their needs aside for the sake of adhering to what is in Vogue. Funnily enough, it seems like by embracing the spectacle, spectacles have become less of a, well, spectacle.
Until next time, nerds.
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