Giving away a $75 gift certificate from CollectibleSpectacle!

Vintage eyewear, the very words conjure up instant thoughts of everything from 1950s teenagers in winged cat eye frames to the thick black, and tortoise shelled, rims of the beat generation. For some this fabulous genre of accessories may invoke images of finely constructed early twentieth century wire frames, to others it may mean an oversized pair of mod 60s sunglasses or the understated cool of a sleek set of browline glasses, but no matter what the words vintage eyewear spark in your imagination, there’s no denying that old school specs are works of art.

Long before my eyesight decided to head south in a hurry (about 3.5 years ago, thank you very much, myopia!), I’d adored vintage glasses. Their sleek – at times almost sensuous – curves, iconic shapes, perfectly aged colours, and overall allure beckoning my vintage loving soul to their ascetic splendour. Judging by the trove of fellow vintage aficionados, as well as those with a penchant for great style in general, that embrace classic frames as well, it’s clear I’m far from alone in my passion for gorgeous vintage glasses.

One needn’t actually be afflicted by eye woes to sport vintage eyeglasses, and therein lies so much of their charm. You can turn a pair of frames into sunglasses or have plain glass (lenses) put into them, if you’d like to use them as a charming accessory, instead of as a vision aid. If you do sport specs for medical reasons, it’s usually very easy to have a professional put in your prescription strength lenses, thereby allowing you to wear most any vintage pair of glasses your heart desires.

If you’re a fan of vintage eyewear, then this post is for you, because I’m thrilled to announce that Chronically Vintage has teamed up with the fabulous etsy seller CollectibleSpectacle, to offer readers of this blog the chance to win a $75.00 gift certificate† to put towards whatever your heart desires from CollectibleSpectacle’s delightful array of vintage frames.

Founded by a lovely woman with two generations of optometrists in her family tree, and a deeply rooted passion for amazing vintage eyewear, CollectibleSpectacle offers customers a skilfully hand-selected assortment of eyeglass frames that span the decades of the 1950s through to the 1980s (with an emphasis on stunning 1950s styles). The frames that they offer are bursting with charm, character and timeless appeal. Many are highly sought after collector pieces, yet the price tags that CollectibleSpectacle puts on their offerings are entirely reasonable, thus allowing fans of vintage eyewear to easily add a piece of the past to their wardrobe.

The image below shows a sampling of some of my favourite frames that CollectibleSpectacle currently has in stock (they rotate in new frames frequently, and are also happy to take requests if you’re hunting for something in particle, making this etsy seller one to bookmark for sure!) – talk about dreamy vintage glasses if ever there were!




Giveaway details

This wonderful giveaway will run between today (July 5th) and Monday July 12, 2010 (contest closes at 11:59pm EST), and is open to Chronically Vintage readers from around the globe. One lucky winner will be drawn at random on July 13th, and announced here in a blog post (I will also contact the winner directly to let them know that they’ve won).

I want my readers to have as many chances as possible to win this marvellous prize from CollectibleSpectacle, so there are five ways for you to earn as many as five entries in this giveaway.


1.) Post a comment below about your favourite pair of frames from CollectibleSpectacle’s etsy shop, and/or tell me about anything you’d like regarding vintage eyeglasses (e.g., if you wear them, why you love them, how big your collection is!).

2.) Post about this giveaway, including a link back to this announcement post on Chronically Vintage, on your own blog, telling your readers about this contest (if you'd like to use the photo collage I created above, just right click on it to save it to your desktop). Once you’ve written about the giveaway, come back here and let me know you’ve done so by leaving a comment with a link back to your post.

3.) Add Chronically Vintage to your blog roll (or other area of your site/blog where you list some of your favourite blogs) – or inform me if you’re already doing so. Stop by to let me know in the comment section that CV’s on your blog roll, and you’ll gain another entry for the contest.

4.) Become (or let me know if you already are) a Google Follower of Chronically Vintage (see the right hand side bar to join), then take a moment and leave a comment saying so.

5.) Spread the good word about this contest via Twitter or Facebook (you can find CollectableSpectacle on Twitter and on Facebook, the latter of which they’ve recently created a fan page for). Again, be sure to jot down a comment letting me know you’ve done so.


Everybody is welcome to enter in however many of the five ways they wish, just be sure that you let me know about each entry in a separate comment, to better enhance your chances of winning (four comments for example, would give you four entries into the contest, thus four potential chances to win!). Please remember to post a separate comment for each entry!


I wish everyone who participates the absolute best of luck and thank you all in advance for taking part in this exciting vintage eyewear giveaway!





† Note that etsy does not issue site wide gift certificates, instead CollectibleSpectacle will issue you a credit from their shop for $75.00 (US) that you can use towards the purchase of whatever you like from their stock. Please email if you'd like further details about about this point.