Governor's Poor Boys: Classic Ivy League Tortoise Shell Frames

Governor's Poor Boys style eye frames were not sold in local stores -- you had to go to small boutiques in Newport or the Hamptons to find them. Rich-wannabees drove themselves crazy trying to snag a pair so they too could look as if their father and grandfather were alumni. With sarcasm, they named the frames "Poor Boys", and the moniker stuck.

During the late sixties and much of the seventies, the Poor Boys dropped off the radar screen. Then a few trend-setting political candidates and business leaders brought them back in a modified, custom made smaller eye size in rich, deep honey-toned tortoise shell. When the size of the P3 rim shape was reduced, these classy frames suddenly became the Ivy style and preppy standard. 

If you really want to look as if your father's driver just dropped you off to private school in the family's Bentley, order your vintage GPBs in prescription sunglasses. Select the tint color of your choice (G-15 green is the "trad" choice). Or consider ordering two frames: one in honey amber and the other in dark hue tortoise, to perfect your Ivy style look for every occasion.

Ivy league photo by Maeshima hiroki (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons