Hipster Glasses in Men's Fashion

Hipster glasses is a must-have item for trendy men. Once consider geeky or nerdy, this trend is now associated with counterculture such as hipster, preppy or dandy. You can now see some of the Hollywood actors wearing thick-framed glasses.






In Asia, this trend probably started in South Korea. In the early 2000s, hipster or thick-framed glasses were worn mostly by single eyelid Korean men. Now, walking down the streets of Seoul, you will be able to see trendy Korean guys sporting this look.



One example would be Korean actor, Kim Soo Hyun. He is known for his single-eyelid, which is gaining popularity in Korea. Korean celebrities are often sported with glasses off stage.

Now, various Korean pop idols are sporting with the glasses. Korean men tend to give a preppy or dandy look with their glasses.



Korean male idols often portray the "dandy gentleman" style. For instance, 2PM members likes to show their gentleman side off-stage, different from their wild and "beastly" performance on stage. They are currently brand ambassadors for a optical brand in Korea.



In Korea, "eomchina/umchina (엄친아)"  literally means "mother's friend's son", which means a man who is good at everything. Korean celebrities are not afraid of showing their "good boy" image by wearing thick-framed glasses.



Actor Song Joong Ki is the epitome of "Eomchina" in Korea. He portrays a studious and elite look with glasses.



Korean men are not afraid to show their geeky side. BEAST's Kikwang is seen here, portraying a nerdy good boy with his big frames.

Kevin Woo of U-KISS, the Korean-American who is known as a "flower boy (꽃미남)" in Korea.

The "dandy" look is not that strong in neighboring Japan. Most Japanese men prefer the hipster and indie look. Hipsters are those who wants to portray a creative, artsy, intelligent and wanting to be different from others. Places such as Takeshita dori(竹下通り) in Tokyo and Amerika mura (アメリカ村) in Osaka are places where you can find lots of male street fashion.


WEGO is known for vintage street fashion. The model Kouki Yoneshige (米重晃希) completed the vintage hipster look with the hat and thick framed glasses.



Kora Kengo is an actor and model for UNIQLO in Japan. He is wearing big frames and trendy hat to sport a hipster and indie look.