• Robert Marc

  386 Bleecker St.; 212-242-6668; plus seven other locations

  He’s not as cheap as you might find at a discounter or mass chain, but Robert Marc’s frames are handmade (meaning the eyepieces won’t wobble and the screws won’t break two months in). He uses excellent materials (Italian acetate, Japanese titanium), and prices start at $295. He’s best known for his trendy acetates, which come in an exhaustive variety of custom colors and shapes, but he also makes straightforward titanium and rimless styles and stocks cult brands that you won’t find elsewhere, like Lunor, a pricey, minimalist German line made from precious metals, and Retrospecs, a line of refurbished antique frames boasting that holy grail of modern eyewear: original forties and fifties aviators.

From the 2007 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine