If You Can’t Read This, Lookie Here.

On the long list of things that fall apart during our march through middle age, the eyes are near the top.

I had always taken my 20/20 vision for granted, until it went sideways when I hit my mid-forties. Reading is such a basic, reflexive action you really don’t think about until you can’t do it. I felt helpless and went through the four stages of grief:

lookie lous® message inside of the package.

1: Denial: If I hold Us Weekly just slightly farther from my face, I can still read about who has the worst beach body.

2: Anger: Not only does holding Us Weekly farther away from my face not work, but it hurts my arms, and damn it US Weekly, why do you print in such a small font?

3: Depression: Really, Us Weekly, why is everybody in your magazine half my age and three-times hotter, (even the worst beach bodies)? I am overwhelmed by middle-age maladies and am going to close my eyes so I don’t have to deal with trying to read anything anymore.

4: Acceptance + Hope: Hey! Reading Glasses can be fun! It’s a new category of shopping! I can change up my look! They give me an air of sartorial sophistication!

I found some great readers in here!

So with this sense of acceptance and hope I dove into the world of readers with mixed results. Clearly, this world is not in the style universe, as distribution choices include such grim retailing options as Walgreens, Chevron, and the Touchless Car Wash.

But this “readers everywhere” phenomenon started to make sense as I lost mine at a rapid pace: on the bus, in restaurants, in my own house.

And then I found lookie lous®. These revolutionary readers’ not only look great, but they double as a head-band or space-age choker, as you can slide them up to your head or down to your neck without taking them off or putting them down.

lookie lous® in Paris Pink.

Founders Kelly Coty and Kristie de la Casinier created lookie lous® in Nashville (how cool is that!) for all of us who want a fashionable reader that works well and stays put. “I bought tons of readers once I hit 40, but I could never find them,” recalls Coty. “I wanted to create a design that was functional for most people. lookie lous® are for the mom on the run, the businesswoman in and out of meetings and that person who can never find their glasses when sitting down to read.”

You can see them in action here:

They come in five colors, which I of course thought was purely for reasons of fashion. But taking this whole functionality factor further, Clear is for everyday use, Los Angeles Sand and New York Black are for reading in the sunlight, London Gray for indoor/outdoor use, and Paris Pink for computer reading. At $39.99 with free shipping, you can afford different colors for different uses – and outfits!

So it’s a total coincidence that I chose pink to go with my current orange hair, but they truly soften the glare of my Mac Air, where I spend most of my waking hours. I haven’t misplaced them once as I continue to get double and triple takes and gasps of “what are those” and “where did you get them?” It never gets old (even though I do!).

And the older I get, the more importance I place on supporting smaller, independent companies and retailers who make things that they wear or use themselves. Thanks Kelly and Kristi for your labor of love, lookie lous®, and helping us all see better, and with hope, through rose colored glasses.