Mother and daughter 062

A beautiful double portrait of Esther (left) and her mother Miriam posing in glasses made by Viennaline forty years ago. I clearly remember seeing many beautiful young ladies - especially blondes - wearing these glasses in the streets of Amsterdam around 1973. A comparison between this portrait with the preceding few series illustrates how the size of the frames was increasing within just a few years. These airy Viennaline frames were only suitable for rather mild prescriptions.
Esther is posing in a pair with an unusual prescription. The lens for her left eye is about minus three but the other lens is above plus one. This is over the limit where opticians advise their clients a switch to contact lenses. The glasses look brand new so the first owner of the glasses probably followed her optician's advice, using her glasses only as backup.
Miriam is posing in an identical pair, fitted with the first generation of progressive lenses. The first owner of these glasses must have been a slightly longsighted lady in her early forties who wisely took the step towards progressive lenses after noticing the very first symptoms of presbyopia. A long delay in this decision makes the step towards progressive lenses increasingly difficult.
To me, this is one of the finest double portraits of the vintage part of this photo shoot. The posing of both models is excellent and the identical glasses really suit the faces of both mother and daughter quite well.