Framed! Harry Potter

What does the young teenager buy in today's practice? No longer a child and not quite an adult it must be difficult to find anything that is suitable.

With more important things to spend their money on like iPods and discount cider it's also a difficult area for us designers to provide for. What's the point, there's no money in it. The only frames in the market are generally 'cheapo' mass market rubbish. (cue barrage of complaints letters)

This is not the case in America where the teen eyewear market is on a different scale. They also have decent dedicated brands driven by brand names like Tommy Hilfiger and Dockers, Safilo USA's Ralph Lauren, Marchon Eyewear's Nautica and Nike.

Nope, the boys and girls in Blighty who are just turning 15 or 16 are in two worlds. So what do we know about the British teenager,  well I thought I'd take one typical example and see if there was anything I could learn.
 
Harry Potter has some serious eye furniture problems. At 10 years old I can forgive the lad for his 80s John Lennon glasses - after all Uncle Vernon wasn't spending any money on him and his specs were likely cast offs from an antique shop.

When they broke, Harry looked to Jack Duckworth for a repair solution (a sticking plaster) and from there he was stuck with them.

However, are you trying to tell me as our Half Blood Prince grew he didn't need a new pair of specs? Did his head stay the same size and if so, is he so attached to his trademark that he sought out a bigger version of the old frame, plaster and all?

Well, now the wizard is turning 16 and I still think he's too young for some refractive eye magic from Hermione.

With that scar on his head I'd really be thinking about a bolder statement frame,  or perhaps a sporty number given all the beatings he personally takes and the intense quidditch performance required of his bins.

A nice Oakley perhaps? No,  that's not public school enough, I doubt they make Tag in his size and Prada is more Malfoy than Potter.

I suppose with all those Galleons in Gringotts bank he could go bespoke, I'd make him a nice titanium frame for some gold but although he's now in the girlfriend market he's probably still more worried about his Firebolt than his image.

I have seen opticians who cater for the younger market but in general it seems that Potter must either find small male frames from the wider mainstream offering at his local optician in Diagon Ally or stick to the colourful tin pot kiddie specs and hope his head grows some more. Him and the rest of the small faced muggles!