Michael Jordan played basketball like a man with X-ray vision. Now that he’s retired, has his vision deteriorated? Some concluded that after seeing him courtside at a Lakers game, wearing spectacles. But those glasses were for effect. We’ve been assured Michael’s still a 20-20 man.
Jordan joins a trend: eyeglasses, whether they’re needed or not (and Sammy Sosa doesn’t need them either), as a fashion statement. Actors such as Michael Douglas and Tom Cruise wear “planos,”non-prescription specs.
“Non-prescription glasses are a piece of jewelry, an accessory,” says Jacquelin Nevid-Presman, owner of Contacts & Specs, a high-end optical store on the North Side. “We see a lot of students, and young doctors and lawyers who want to look older.”
One contact lens manufacturer saw this as an extension of the color- contacts phenomenon, where wearers change eye color just for fun.
Mohammed Jaffer Khan, an optical assistant at Professional Eyecare Inc. in Woodridge, said more customers began requesting plastic frames after Sosa wore them last spring.
“People think they look more educated and serious (in glasses),” he said.
Will Jordan push sales of non-prescription eyewear?
“I certainly hope so,” said Nevid-Presman.
“Michael Jordan wearing glasses is kind of a big statement,” said Khan. “Not like in the ’80s, where it was more a nerd statement.”
