About the sunglasses..

[Drac]

Good day all,

My wife and I put some effort into our garb (don't even mention elastic around her) and want to get some details right. 

On sunglasses what do you do?  Even if you're not like me and have a medical condition requiring them most people should wear them in sun intense areas such as Texas.  I really feel awkward at times with the doublet, kilt, sporran and all the other tidbits and than to top it off with wrap-around shades.  By the way I have photophobia compounded by secondary cataracts so even with the wrap-arounds I almost always suffer from headaches during the year down here.  My room at home has thick curtains, UV coated windows and 1 40W soft white bulb, quaintly know as the "Drac Cave."

Thanks for your time,
Drac

[Finnian]

I can't say I have any advice, but I am curious also, since I have a bit of light blind'ness. (I walk outside during day and everything just goes like...white or so washed out I can't track movement/depth.) And I live in Florida!

[Gauwyn of Bracknell]

I try to not wear my glasses (they are transitions so they darken), but to protect my sight, I could not care about being HA.  My garb is not totally HA anyway (I bathe regulary, don't smell badly and do not crap in a bucket  ).  I do wear a hat with a brim so that helps most of the time.

I'll be curious to see other responses.

[will paisley]

Colonial Williamsburg sells sunglasses (though they won't be polarized or anything).  They don't look too bad - they're at least close enough so that nobody but a garb nazi will be able to correct you on them.  You used to be able to get them online, but they don't seem to be available now.  Failing that, look for 18th century sutlers online (such as Smiling Fox Forge, Ghost Forge, Cobb Creek, Jas Townsend and Co. , etc)

Edit: found them on the Colonial Williamsburg site here.

[Merlin]

When it comes to health and comfort...by all means. i mean...even though we like to pretend we are in the Renaissance era...we all know we are not and if you have a condition that requires them... wear them.
I was just diagnosed with "Stress Induced Ophthalmic Migraines" .... basically I go blind in one eye for no apparent reason. The only repeating factor in these episodes are lights. Sun doesn't cause it too much but before I would suffer one eye blindness to look the part...I would opt for sunglasses.

There are the hard core rennies that will look at every button or lace to see if it is authentic and that's fine for some... but I don't inspect the authenticity of others any more than i expect them to scrutinize me.

Judge not lest ye be judged.

[Taffy Saltwater]

Thanks for the wise answer, Merlin.  There's HA & then there's your health.  Health trumps HA everytime.  My eyes are allergic to UV rays & are permanently bloodshot due to sun damage.  Not worth it.  I can't afford special faire glasses, so my everyday glasses have to work for me.

EDIT:  I've got transitions, too.

[Drac]

Thanks all,

It's one of those things.  The sun isn't going anywhere and we live in a daylight world.  I've been lucky for the last several years in that I work an indoor job for the phone company.  Double luck the last year and a half of working in a surveillance center that is in a dimly lit room.  Putting those aside I do just quite often have to buck and bear the pain when I need to. 

Since the surgeries for the cataracts and the secondary ones I don't suffer from possible eye damage from light so mine isn't so much a health issue as a comfort issue and I've always chosen to go with comfort.

Count me among the wimps.

Drac

[Merlin]

Awwwww..... we were just kiddin !

I can't believe ye caved in so quickly, man!


Ye can't be wearing Oakley's with the garb....it jest isn't rrrrright!

I mean....come on man!











Bahahaha.... jk.
Luckily for me...Scarby is has HUGE shade on over half of the grounds. Merlin has a hood that I hide under for the bright side. When I kilt up...I'll be wearing the shades.

[will paisley]

Thanks for the wise answer, Merlin.  There's HA & then there's your health.  Health trumps HA everytime.  My eyes are allergic to UV rays & are permanently bloodshot due to sun damage.  Not worth it.  I can't afford special faire glasses, so my everyday glasses have to work for me.

I'm pretty sure the Williamsburg glasses are $9 or so.  While they're not polarized, they should block UV.  Obviously health comes first, and people not on cast can wear whatever they want, including jeans and a t-shirt.  I took the OP as asking what could be done to get glasses to "fit in" with the overall garbed look, not to be HA or "faire legal".  Similarly, when I'm at faire as a patron, I'll drink out of my wooden mug instead of the paper Pepsi cup they give me, not because of HA, but because it glaringly clashes with the rest of my garb I spent hundreds of bucks to assemble.  Looking good's not worth getting a migraine over, but if something reasonably fits visually with the period, does the job, and doesn't cost an arm and a leg, why not?

[gem]

Tinted spectacles are period (there was an older thread with a marvelous Italian painting of a spectacle-seller; IIRC they actually had green lenses!).  The Williamsburg ones look close enough to Renaissance-era eyeglasses to pass.  Many eyeglass places will grind prescription lenses for any frames, so (except in the case of needing the wrap-around dark lenses), it's possible for almost anybody to get period-accurate sunglasses IF THEY WANT THEM.

That said, I haven't personally gone that far yet.  Our fair is very well shaded, so there are few places on site where I feel the need for sunglasses (and I feel the need for sunglasses in January, on a ten-second walk between the grocery store and my car!!). On *really* sunny days I wear a wide-brimmed straw hat (which is probably not the first choice for most of you men out there!), and if I ever get my noble's gown made, I'll be buying a parasol.

For people who just love Fairwear, though, Pyramid Collection has these. More Goth and steampunk than Ren, but maybe they'll get more.

[Rin]

Well, I'm not entirely sure how they work, but there's contacts that work like sunglasses. I'm sure they aren't cheep.

[Drac]

Checked with my eye doctor on the contacts.  There a re UV contacts but in my case they won't do any good since the problem is light sensitivity.  He said it would be worse as contacts allow more light into the eye.

Gem, by the way if you need prescription wrap arounds Nike (and now a couple military level sets) have wrap arounds that have insets that clip into the inside were the nose guard goes.  I've had a set for about 5 years and love them and I wear trifocals.  They even have different "shields" for different tastes and situations.  I have a dark gray set (not as dark as I would like but..) for daylight and a set of yellow for night driving and shooting for gun quals in the Navy.  They are pricey.

Drac

[RumbaRue]

I just got new glasses back in December. They are transitions, but I noticed they don't get dark enough for bright sunlight, forcing me to wear sunglasses that are polarized that fit over my regular glasses.
However I realize I won't be able to wear the over-sunglasses at events, and will have to wear just my regular glasses if I'm not wearing my contacts.
I also have hats that cover enough of my forehead and eyes that help a lot.
Costume Nazis can not make you get new glasses - I don't care what they say!
If push comes to shove, don't wear them for costume checking and just put them on afterwards.
My new glasses were very expensive and have crystal baguttes on the sides. I don't care - if I have to wear glasses I wear them regardless of what some stupid costumer says. My eyes and seeing are very important to me.

[Drac]

Going through the link I have my everyday glasses (just got a new set last week) that are kind of close.





Very John Lenon, or now very Holmes like.

Drac