Eyeballs Eyewear in Paddington is a Sydney stockist of Tom Ford glasses and sunglasses, and we hold the core optical shapes and a selection of the sun collection, including polarised models, in store. You can try them on at 342 Oxford Street, about ten minutes from the Sydney CBD, open seven days.
Why the shapes work on so many faces
Tom Ford launched eyewear in 2005 and it has been one of the most consistently successful parts of the house ever since, for a plain reason: the shapes flatter almost everybody. The house works a deliberately narrow set of forms — a strong square, a soft rectangle, a rounded aviator, a wide feminine cat-eye — and refines them year after year instead of chasing a new silhouette each season.
Execution is Italian and unusually consistent. The acetate is polished to a high gloss, the temples are substantial, and the signature "T" hinge in polished metal sits at the joint where a lesser frame hides a cheap rivet. Proportions are generous without tipping into costume, and the frames photograph well, which is not a trivial consideration.
The models people come in asking for
On the sun side, the Snowdon is the frame most people mean when they say Tom Ford: a squared, thick-rimmed acetate with a keyhole bridge that has been in the range for well over a decade. The Marko is its metal counterpart, a double-bridge aviator with a heavy brow bar, and the Henry is the rounder, softer metal alternative for anyone who finds a full aviator too aggressive. For women's sun the Whitney and the Jennifer remain the two reference shapes — an angular cat-eye and a softer squared front, both cut wide enough to actually shade.
The optical range is the quieter workhorse, catalogued as FT5-series references rather than names. It runs heavier acetates that carry a strong prescription without looking thick, plus fine metal rectangles for anyone who wants the hinge and none of the volume. Sizes are the useful part: the core shapes are made in more than one eye size, so the same look works on a narrow face and a broad one.
What we hold in Paddington
We buy the core of the range rather than only the seasonal pieces, and we hold the shapes people actually keep wearing.
- Core optical squares and rectangles in Italian acetate
- Fine metal optical frames with the T hinge
- Sunglasses across the acetate and metal shapes, including polarised options
- Multiple sizes in the core shapes, so the fit can be matched to the face
- Several of the staple models in more than one colourway
- Anything current we do not hold can be ordered in
Every sun model can be fitted with your prescription, and lenses are edged in store rather than sent away.
Fit, and who they suit
Tom Ford frames run large and sit forward on the face, which is exactly why they read as confident and also why size selection matters more here than in most ranges. A broad face with a high bridge can wear the largest Snowdon size comfortably; a narrower face is usually better in the smaller eye size of the same model, which keeps the proportion without the temples splaying. The acetate is thick at the rim, so it hides the edge of a high-minus lens well — one reason the optical range suits people who have been told their prescription limits their choices.
The metal models sit lighter and higher and suit anyone who finds a heavy acetate hot or slippery in a Sydney summer. Because the temples are weighty, adjustment matters: we heat and set the temple bend to your ears so the weight sits behind them rather than sliding down the nose. Try three or four sizes side by side — the difference is obvious on the face and invisible on a screen.
