Review -- Fenceline Prescription Glasses from Oakley's New 2015 Optical Collection

I started wearing prescription glasses eight years ago, when I found that I couldn't go around town without glasses anymore. I had started feeling that my vision was getting worse and worse some two years prior, but I kept postponing to see an eye doctor, because, I guess, I was afraid to find out that I really needed to start wearing glasses. Finally, I did find the bravery in me to make an appointment with an eye doctor, and that doctor concluded that I had astigmatism and that I should start wearing glasses, so this is when I started wearing prescription glasses, in late 2007.

I am shortsighted. I can read a book or sew a button without my glasses, but I cannot drive or simply walk down the street unless I have my glasses on. Heck, I can't even go without my glasses on in my own house, while doing house chores or watch TV (yes, I do need my glasses to watch TV). Of course, I'm not the only one experiencing this, every single glasses wearer goes through this, we just learn to live with our shortsightedness as we go on with our lives. I guess I could say that we, the eyeglasses wearers, are a nation of our own, with our own lifestyle that needs special accommodations for our less than perfect vision.

My first pair of prescription glasses was a pair with a frame from Dolce & Gabbana of a sharp style that I particularly appreciated at that time.

September 2013. This is also the photo on the back cover of my book "Bits of Fashion", published in 2013.

September 2013

I have worn these glasses for six years, until the frame got all crooked and unrepairable by an optician, and the lenses got all scratched. But they have served me well for all those six years. I still have them in my house, somewhere in an accessories box, however they are unwearable at this point. I stopped wearing them two years ago about this time, when I got a new frame, from BCBG Maxazria, which I still wear today.

Vacationing in Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, USA, August 2015

Vacationing in Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, USA, August 2015

Another pair of glasses of mine are these no-names, which are my spare glasses. Eyeglasses wearers know -- it's always good to have a spare pair of glasses, for instances when you're supposed to change your lenses or upgrade your frame, which usually takes at least a few days. However, I did get to wear them outside the "spare" situations, like this TIFF party from September 2013.

With actor Richard Young, TIFF party, September 2013. Yeah, he pretends to kiss me. :)

With actress Clara Pasieka, TIFF party, September 2013

My sunglasses are also prescription glasses, because I am unable to wear regular sunglasses, those are absolutely useless to me; so I've added prescription lenses to these Hugo Boss sunnies. Mind you, it's my only pair of sunglasses, that is the only pair of sunnies that I can actually wear, because it costs me a small fortune to make a pair of these, so I am extremely careful with them, and I have been wearing them for six years now.

Vacationing in Tobermory, Ontario, Canada, August 2015

Vacationing in Tobermory, Ontario, Canada, August 2015

A girl who needs vision care is always serious about her glasses. So when Oakley contacted me a few weeks ago and asked me if I would like to test and review a pair of Oakley glasses, I happily said yes. I had an appointment with Kimberly Tremblay, the Sales Manager from Sterling Optical, an Oakley retailer in Toronto who have their store at The Atrium from 595 Bay Street (Bay and Dundas). We talked about glasses, about prescriptions, about my vision care history, about styles, about frames, about Oakley. Kimberly showed me three styles of frames that I could choose from -- Nine to Five for ladies, Fenceline unisex, and Crosslink, a sportier frame. All these styles of frames are part of the newest collection from Oakley, called "2015 Optical Collection", that fuses style, functionality, performance and innovation. They are currently available at Sterling Optical from The Atrium at 595 Bay Street (Bay and Dundas).

I chose the Fenceline Polished Tortoise frame which is a unisex frame, as I particularly liked its quirkiness. Then I provided Kimberly with all the information that she neeeded in order to have my new glasses made by Oakley, and we agreed to meet again at Sterling Optical a few weeks later, when I could pick up my new glasses. On the said day I went to Sterling Optical again, and I picked up my new Oakley Fenceline Polished Tortoise glasses. I put them on, and I instantly could see (through) the sharpness of the lenses. Boy are these lenses sharp! That was my first thought that crossed my mind when I put on the glasses. With these Oakley glasses, everything was, literally, so crystal clear. Now my eyes were the happy owners of a new pair of very sharp glasses, and I couldn't help but be happy for them as well. And I love the quirkiness of my new Oakleys! They deserve an outfit built for them and not the other way around when you match your glasses with the outfit you're wearing for the day.

It was during a lunch hour when I picked up my new Oakley glasses from Sterling Optical, and I did not hesitate to start wearing my new glasses right away, that is on my way back to the office that afternoon. As soon as I got back to the office at 1 PM, my colleagues instantly noticed my new glasses, and everybody complimented me on them. But I also wanted to share the news with my husband, so I sent him this selfie with the text message "Like my new specs? Xoxo".

He replied with another text: "Too big". "Oh no honey, they are not, wait until I get home and you see them for real". :) And when I did get home that Friday afternoon and let him see them, he actually liked them. He insisted to try them on as well -- it's a unisex frame after all. Too bad he can't actually wear them since we have different prescriptions. All he got when he tried them on was dizzy, because this is what happens when you try on someone else's glasses -- you get dizzy.

I have fun wearing them, I have fun building outfits for them, I enjoy getting compliments for them, and I enjoy going about my daily usual in the office at work, with them. And this is me, the office girl, wearing my new Oakley Fenceline Polished Tortoise glasses, or simply Tortoise, on a usual workday in the office. Because they deserve a name on their own, I decided to call them Tortoise. Readers, meet Tortoise. Tortoise, meet readers.

Photo credit: Victoria West