Iris 352

When Iris saw these black hipster glasses on the selection table, her first reaction was "They look exactly like my old glasses!". No doubt they do - this is a variant of the frame that finally put an end to the retro era in 2010 (sigh of relief). Zenni has the nice habit to pick up trends (or the memory of bygone trends) and add a twist of their own. The first hipster glasses were all black but Zenni chose to manufacture this frame with arms in bright colors. It was an instant hit and the frame kept disappearing and reappearing in their catalog, sometimes with new frame numbers. If I'm not mistaken, it's now number 270218 but there may have been a slight modification to the frame shape.

The arrival of the black hipster glasses is a story all by itself. All of a sudden, the streets started filling with them and while welcoming the change, I wondered "where's the fountain head?" Last year, this question came back in an all night talk with my mentor in photography. Being half my age, Quin knows everything about the works and impact of modern media. His explanation was that "someone somewhere" saw an old picture of Buddy Holly (1936-1959), a pioneer of pop music. The Holly picture spread on the web and it made such an impression that everyone started looking for his glasses. The industry picked the signal up immediately and off you go....