This summer when the heat turns up, many drivers take the streets and set cruise control for an enjoyable afternoon ride.

There is a certain allure about the open air, the wind in your hair. and experiencing the world with the top down. Yes, driving or riding in a convertible is on most of our annual summer bucket lists, but this year I found out that slipping into gear and hitting the road isn’t the only way to go “convertible”.

As a contact lens wearer most my life, I’ve enjoyed wearing many different styles of sunglasses over the years from the cheap-o drugstore glasses to designer frames that I have taken great pains not to scratch. But as my eyes have aged, and the need for having readers has creeped into my life, I find I wear my contact lenses less and wear my progressive prescription glasses more and this makes wearing just any old pair of sunglasses near impossible.


I mean, I could layer sunglasses over my prescription glasses (a true fashion don’t) or I could get transition lenses that change in sunlight, or I can get those crazy wrap around glasses they give people after eye surgery to block out the light…but this year I found a better alternative.

The Vari VC1 and VC2 are known as the brand’s “unstoppable clipables”. The frames come with a magnetized frame chassis and a changeable, clipable frame front that enables me to pop on mirrored lenses or my “top-gun best” G15 lenses directly on top of my prescription glasses with the flick of a wrist. Never before have I been able to go “convertible” so effortlessly when I stepped out into the sun.

These frames have been an “eye” life-saver for me this summer and I must say quite a conversation starter. Just last week I dropped into the bank to deposit a check, and as I stepped inside, I took the blue mirrored clipable frame front off of my VC1’s. I took care of my transaction and was walking towards the exit, where the bank manager was greeting clients that were coming and going through the double doors. As I thanked him for holding the door and said goodbye, I clipped my sunglass frame front on my glasses and walked through the door. Catching me out of the corner of his eye, the bank manager followed me outside. “Excuse me,” he said, “but are those glasses, sunglasses too?” I turned to show him the way that the frames worked, and he smiled and said, “Now that has to be the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.” I enthusiastically agreed with him, gave him the address of the Väri website and jumped into my car.

Since then, I’ve been stopped by a vacationer from England that I met in Barbados, a waiter at an outdoor restaurant, a boat captain at the local marina, an owner of a car-wash, an office manager on her lunch break and a half dozen other people who found the convertible nature of the frames intriguing enough to ask me where I got them and how they could buy a pair.

We want what we want, when we want it. We want options that make our lives easier. With the Väri VC’s I’m able to wear my prescription lenses when I’m working and then easily segue into outdoor summer fun by simply adding the clip. And get this, I can even get multiple clips! So, if I want to go with a G15, or a blue mirror, or an orange mirror, I just change out the clipable frame front. New look, same frames, happy me.

I know there are many reasons to drive a convertible in the summer, but with Väri’s VC’s you can “drive” fashion forward, while protecting your eyes, all year long.

Unisex, cool, comfortable and convertible – check out the VC’s here - https://varieyewear.com/collections/mens-sunglasses

Jodi Jacobs