Feeling Ace(&Tate)
Neil, Neil Large, Pierce and Finn… four eyewear styles from Ace & Tate that I tried out in the studio.
Eyewear has changed. When I was younger I feel there was a set label attached to those who wore glasses. So when 6-year-old Jordan entered the classroom with his cobalt blue specs on with his bright red school jumper, I already had my place. Now I feel the stigma is gone and glasses provide not only clarity, but also confidence. Six-year-old Jordan would have been rocking that red and blue combination. Whatever negativity there was around eyewear, it has long gone and brands like Ace & Tate are making opticals (and sunglasses) fun.
Through the Ace & Tate home try-on service, I styled four frames that I have linked above. The process is as simple as shopping online: choose up to four frames, have five days to test them out - whether that be at work, at home or if you are like me, in a studio - before returning them and making a decision. Oh and it’s free to do as well.
In the glasses industry, I believe there’s a lot of talk around eyewear styles that suit some and not others and how your face shape dictates the glasses you should choose. I even remember walking into my old opticians and there would be face measurers in-store to define what face I had. For me I think it’s not about your face shape, it’s about how the glasses make you feel.
The idea for our studio shoot was to amplify how I felt, my self-awareness and the glasses I was wearing. I wanted the camera to come close, to make me feel a little under the microscope and see how I felt wearing them. Subtle textures were included to play off clarity, perspective and distortion, all words associated with sight. It was fun to be in a studio, to see how I would behave in a different setting and looking back through the photos you can see me warm up the longer we were working on the images. Putting myself in poses I would not normally do, playing more with the glasses and just having fun with it.
I remember saying to my photographer Nas Abraham how it is worth trying a pose or stance that might look a bit different because you never know how these things turn out if you do not go for it. It is this kind of attitude that carries through in Ace & Tate, feeling confident in what you are balancing on your ears and nose and allowing yourself to be lifted.jbicon
Could 2023 be the ultimate year of sustainability for fashion? Probably not, but there are some positive things happening if you look for them.