Gregory's

Roope Vintage

If you were to peruse my family album, because you're nosy like that, you wouldn't have to be a gene scientist to work out I was always doomed to have shocking eyesight. Both my parents and all my grandparents wore glasses, so it was inevitable that I would have a similar ability to see long-distance as a fruit bat. What also seems to be hereditary, in addition to being deprived of the chance of going to Top Gun by stupid genetics, is the compulsion to wear ridiculous glasses. Think large, late 80s and pearlised and you're along the right lines. Where I had previously mocked my parents for their choice in specs, my scoffing has been replaced by feelings of jealousy and bitterness that they didn't hang onto them longer.

I haven't been able to get retro glasses out of my head since I visited Paris last summer. I couldn't put my finger on what made the Parisian residents' simple t-shirt/jeans/trench coat ensembles so perfect, until I found myself cooing over a shop dog in Le Marais - who was watching the city go by from the doorway of a glasses shop. A good pair of glasses has the power to elevate an outfit, which was reiterated to me countless times as I wandered around the City of Lights pretending I was a local. Nine months on and I still can't stop thinking about timeless, yet statement, tortoiseshell glasses, green with envy every time I see a picture of Morrissey or Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch. For the first and last time I think this man will receive style snaps, I also genuinely admire Tudor historian David 'rudest man in Britain' Starkey for his choice in eyewear.

I think it was about time I accepted the fact that I need to wear glasses every day. I don't know what I'm so bothered about, gone are the days of 'speccy nerds' and 'never making passes at girls who wear glasses'. Oh, who am I kidding, there is only so many times a person can live with the embarassment of waving at people and realising that you don't actually know the person you are waving at.