Stylish Reading Glasses For Women - Popular Frame Styles, Colours & Face Shape Guide

Up your game and have several pairs of fashionable reading glasses. Use our guide to trendy frames, colours, plus expert tips.

As we grow older, vision can start to deteriorate, especially when reading or looking at something close-up. You might have trouble focussing or find that you’ve got blurry vision.

Presbyopia is the medical name for the gradual loss of your eyes' ability to focus on nearby objects. Eyes begins to deteriorate in your early to mid 40s and continue to decline until around the age of 65. To find out more about the condition, read this article by the Mayo Clinic.

Do I need reading glasses?

If you’re holding a book or document at arm’s length or having trouble on focusing on something intricate, you should get your eyes checked at the opticians. Reading glasses might make all the difference.

If you do need this step change, you won't have to sacrifice your style. There are no Miss Marple looks here as today's women's readers can even give you a fashionable edge. There is a huge range of stylish reading glasses from cat eye styles, colourful frames, both large and small, all with magnified lenses with strengths from +1 to +3.50, not forgetting the useful blue light reading glasses for those working at computers all day.

How to make reading glasses look cool

This is not difficult given the choice available. Most importantly you need to choose a frame that suits the shape of your face.

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It’s your look, if you like it then go for it!

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How do I choose reading glasses to suit my face shape?

We recommend you follow these simple guidelines:

Round face

Choose rectangular or square frames to add definition.

Square face

Round or oval frames will help soften the angles of your face.

Long face

Choose larger, taller frames that balance the length of your face. A Frame where the temples are attached at the top of the frame.

Heart-shaped face

Find a frame that is wider at the top than the bottom, such as cat-eye or aviator styles.

Oval face

This is probably the easiest type as most frame shapes work well with an oval face, so you can really experiment with different styles.

Face-lifting effect

Upswept cat-eye styles are the secret to a face-lifting effect.

Colour co-ordinate your reading glasses

This is where the fun begins as you can really go to town and match frames to your outfits. Alternatively, you can highlight your eyes or hair by choosing the same colour frame. Think of Prue Leith and all her fabulous glasses that she wears alongside chunky necklaces, creating a bold visual impact. If you wear neutrals, why not turn up the colour in your reading glasses and choose some bold coloured frames. Conversely, if you dress in bright prints, channel a classic look with simple neutral-coloured frames.

Choose materials that suit your lifestyle

Consider functionality: you want your reading glasses to sit comfortably on your nose. Plastic frames are lightweight and you’ll get a massive amount of choice in colours and styles. You might, however, prefer to opt for metallic frames, which give a sleek modern look.

Frame size

The frame should fit to the widest point of your head, leaving enough room on each side of your head to avoid pressure marks. Try to keep your readers in scale with your face size and stature. If you’re going for an edgy look, either make it small or go big and oversized.

Bridge style

Choose a frame for comfort or to conceal, whether metal or plastic.

1. Non-adjustable bridges: Plastic preformed glasses have non-adjustable bridges that can appear to shorten your nose. A rule of thumb is that the lower the bridge, the more it shortens. A keyhole bridge appears to lengthen your nose and its narrower form makes this a good fit for a thin nose if you don't like nose pads. These can be much more comfortable to wear.
2. Nose Pads: Metal frames sometimes have adjustable nose pads that can be adjusted to fit a wide or narrow nose and usually provides a secure and comfortable fit

Temple length

You’re looking for the comfort factor here so the arms should be long enough to fit with a bend around the back of your ears. You don’t want your readers to slip down your nose and you might want to push them up on to your head when not using them.

Bottom line

We are all different and you must choose frames that you feel comfortable with. As for cost, the price varies enormously from affordable readers you can find on Amazon sold in multiples to designer reading glasses, with a price tag to match. With this in mind, we’ve cherry-picked a good cross section of styles that we hope you’ll find useful when buying your next pair of reading glasses.