Choosing a pair of glasses starts with one question: do you want ready-made reading glasses, or a frame that an optician fits with lenses made for you? Once that is settled, the choice is about the frame itself: its material, its size, and how it sits beside the jewellery you wear every day. The pairs we have chosen here are optical frames from Guess, grouped by material. For your strength or a prescription, ask an optician.
Reading Glasses or Optical Frames?
Ready-made reading glasses, often called readers, come with their lenses already fitted, usually the same strength in both, and are chosen by that number. Optical frames are chosen for the frame alone. You take them to an optician, who fits lenses made to your own prescription. Many people keep both: one frame they wear every day and a second pair for the bag or the bedside table. Either way, the strength is a question for an optician rather than a style guide. Our part is the frame.
Every pair below is an optical frame, and where the product details say it accepts prescription lenses, we say so too. If you are still deciding which outline suits you, our guide How to Choose Sunglasses: Frame Shape, Lenses and UV Protection covers face shape in detail, and the same principles hold for optical frames. Here we concentrate on what that guide does not: material, measurements and jewellery.
Plastic Frames
Plastic frames, often made in acetate, carry colour and pattern well, which is why tortoiseshell, transparent and two-tone finishes are usually plastic. The rim is thicker than a metal one, so the frame becomes a visible part of your look rather than a fine outline. Choose plastic when you want your glasses to be noticed: a warm tortoiseshell for every day, a transparent colour for something lighter in feel.
Guess's Transparent Pink Cat-Eye Eyeglasses set a transparent pink plastic frame against small metal logo details at the temples, and are compatible with prescription lenses. The Pink Tortoiseshell Round Eyeglasses take a softer line in patterned pink tortoiseshell, with a decorative metal logo on the temples and optical-ready lenses for prescription use. The Tortoiseshell Square Eyeglasses pair warm tortoiseshell with red temples and gold-tone 'G' logos, and accept prescription lenses. The unisex Tortoiseshell Round Eyeglasses are cut in acetate, with a metal hinge stamped with the house's G.
- Transparent Pink Cat-Eye Eyeglasses
- Pink Tortoiseshell Round Eyeglasses
- Tortoiseshell Square Eyeglasses
- Tortoiseshell Round Eyeglasses
Metal Frames
A metal frame draws a finer line across the face. Most metal frames rest on adjustable nose pads, which an optician can set so the frame sits at the right height and stays level. Thin metal suits you if you prefer your glasses to recede a little, or if you want them to sit beside earrings without competing with them.
The Rose Gold Round Eyeglasses are a thin rose gold-tone metal frame with adjustable nose pads and black temple tips, compatible with prescription lenses. The Gold Square Eyeglasses take the same thin metal into a squarer line, with adjustable nose pads and precision hinges, and are compatible with prescription lenses. The Rose Gold Hexagonal Eyeglasses bring a geometric outline in thin rose gold-tone metal, resting on clear nose pads, and are prescription-ready. For a cooler tone, the unisex Black Metal Round Eyeglasses are a thin full-rim metal frame with subtle red accents, adjustable nose pads and curved temple tips.
- Rose Gold Round Eyeglasses
- Gold Square Eyeglasses
- Rose Gold Hexagonal Eyeglasses
- Black Metal Round Eyeglasses
Mixed Frames and Semi-Rimless Styles
Mixed frames combine a plastic front with metal temples, or a metal front with plastic arms. You have the colour of plastic where it shows most and the slimmer line of metal at the sides. A semi-rimless frame goes a step further: the rim runs along the top of the lens and the lower edge is left open, which keeps the face clear and the look quiet.
The Patterned Cat-Eye Eyeglasses join a patterned acetate front to rose gold-tone metal temples, with adjustable nose pads, and are prescription-ready. The Tortoiseshell Round Eyeglasses with rose gold temples pair a tortoiseshell plastic front with slim rose gold-plated metal temples and adjustable nose pads; the frame is optical-ready for prescription lenses. The Blue Metal Semi-Rimless Eyeglasses have a metal front with rectangular lenses, adjustable nose pads and patterned plastic temple arms. The Gold Rectangular Eyeglasses use a metal frame with patterned plastic temple arms in red and white.
- Patterned Cat‑Eye Eyeglasses
- Tortoiseshell Round Eyeglasses
- Blue Metal Semi-Rimless Eyeglasses
- Gold Rectangular Eyeglasses
What Do the Numbers on a Frame Mean?
Three measurements describe the size of a frame, all in millimetres: the lens width, the bridge width (the gap between the lenses) and the temple length, which is the arm from hinge to tip. They are usually printed on the inside of one arm. The easiest way to use them is to compare: find the numbers on a pair you already wear and like, and look for a new frame close to them. A difference of a millimetre or two is rarely noticeable; a wider gap usually is.
Where the house gives these measurements, we list them. The unisex Tortoiseshell Round Eyeglasses measure 50, 21 and 150, with a lens height of 42. The Black Metal Round Eyeglasses measure 53, 18 and 145. The Blue Metal Semi-Rimless Eyeglasses and the Gold Rectangular Eyeglasses are more compact, both at 48, 15 and 130. When your lenses are fitted, the optician can also adjust the arms and nose pads so the frame sits as it should.
Wearing Glasses with Jewellery
If you wear glasses all day, they are the one accessory you never take off, so it makes sense to build around them. Let the frame set the tone for the jewellery nearest to it. Rose gold-tone and gold-tone frames ask for warm metals at the ear and the neck; black, blue and silver tones sit more easily with cool ones. The temples run right beside your earrings, so when the arm carries a logo or a pattern, keep the earrings simple and let one of the two lead.
Chains and straps add a further option: they let your glasses rest at the neck between uses, where they read as part of what you are wearing. The Bold Square Eyeglasses come with a patterned fabric strap and a metal chain with enamel charms. The Burgundy Cat-Eye Eyeglasses pair a burgundy plastic front with rose gold-tone metal temples, a chain-link detail and a removable fabric scarf. Both accept prescription lenses. For a quieter look, the Rose Gold Cat-Eye Eyeglasses are a thin metal frame with adjustable nose pads and patterned temple tips, fine enough to leave room for hoops or drops. For more on how Guess pieces work together, see Guess: How to Wear the House's Jewellery and Eyewear.
Our suggestion is simple: read the numbers inside the pair you wear now, choose the material that suits the way you wear your glasses, and take the frame you love to an optician for lenses made for you.
