Holiday Gift Idea: Warby Parker Clip-Ons That Go With Crampons

Though the Mid-Atlantic states are in some sort of ultimate Indian Summer—the temperature yesterday was an unnerving, and record-setting 70 degrees at JFK—chill seekers, fear not. There is January, and she comes. If last year’s apocalypse of a winter in the Northeast is any indication, there will be ice, snow and booger-freezing temperatures soon enough. The proverbial darkness will fall upon the land anew.

When that happens, every warm-blooded hominid will dash sartorial consideration upon the rocks and retreat into sweatshirts, down-coats, Norwegian fishermen's sweaters and gear, generally, that will leave them with a warm, functional, pear-shaped silhouette. Style has no place when life and frostbitten limb are on the line. Who can interplay texture, color and cut when a 100-mph northern gale nearly gusts the epidermis off one’s face?

Here’s a shortcut: Grab a pair of hip, seasonally appropriate shades. The right pair, usually in an icy grey or foreboding black, serves the three purposes of shielding sensitive eyes from snow and skyscraper-induced glare, blocking the aforementioned blast of cold air and making its wearer look just a little better than a fleece-wrapped snowman. This pair from Warby Parker, those purveyors of on-trend, reasonably priced eyewear, is translucent, just like sheet ice, and the clip-on mechanism lends a technical vibe. Called the Durand Clip-On, these specs come with leather-wrapped lenses for a little warmth in what is sure to be a cold world.