Why men of a certain age are jazzing up their specs

There has been a striking development in men’s style this summer — and if you’ve been in the vicinity of a gentleman who pays attention to these things, it may have been staring you in the face. A shacket, decent jeans and the right trainers have long been markers of a man looking to dress himself young. Now a pair of “interesting” glasses is on his shopping list too.

Have you noticed? Men’s opticals have had something of a — to use the Gen Z term — glow-up. If the styles Daniel Craig, Pedro Pascal and a number of my friends’ sixtysomething fathers have traded their old specs in for lately are anything to go by, the days of inconspicuous shades for men are — for now — through.

Plainly functional specs are being overlooked for a new tribe of more fabulous eyewear. They are distinctive but not on the Rocket Man scale of flamboyant. Think wearable shapes with subtly amped-up frames. The 63-year-old fashion designer Tom Ford’s thick-rimmed grey oversized aviators are a great example. Ditto the similar black variety worn by Pascal (50) with a Celine tux on the red carpet last week.

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Why? Well, they lend a bit of personality and age defiance to a modern man’s wardrobe. No surprise that Brad Pitt (61), now in his peacocking era, is partial to some two-tone aviator sunnies. At Wimbledon finals day Benedict Cumberbatch (48) jazzed up his navy suit with what looked like gradient-tint goggles.

Daniel Craig (57) now seems to polish off all of his looks with groovy glasses. He gets most of his from the terribly hip Los Angeles-based eyewear label Jacques Marie Mage, whose cult Dealan wayfarers, a cool £785, are available in “pink quartz”.

Daniel Todd, Mr Porter’s buying director, reports that the brand is one of his customers’ favourites. He thinks statement sunglasses are the new logo T-shirt. “They are a great way for men to inject some personality into their looks,” he says.

The right glasses also have the power to shave a few years off. Zak Maoui, style director for The Gentleman’s Journal, tells me that bold glasses can cover up crow’s feet but also “have a playful vibe that gives off a more youthful image”.

At Finlay, the Prince of Wales’s go-to eyewear outpost, the bestselling men’s styles are the wide Ledbury aviator and a thick-rimmed, slim rectangular style called Harley (both £160, finlayandco.com). These are the sort of models that have long been cool with younger men but are now being picked up by their fathers too.

“The key is to have an open mind and forget any preconceived ideas about what may suit you based on what you have worn historically, as that’ll hold you back,” counsels Finlay founder Dane Butler on shopping for yours. “You want the frame to complement your character. Try on lots of different shapes then dial them up or down with the colourway.”

Remember that, much like choosing a blazer, even a smoky blue or dark green pair of specs is just that bit more of a conversation piece than black. Or dip your toe in with a pair you only wear occasionally. Izipizi makes reading and blue light glasses in a whole spectrum of hues — and you can always hide them behind a book or laptop screen when you’re not feeling brave (£35, izipizi.com).