Spectacular Specs

My Italian wire frames were recently given the new role as "back-ups" when I picked up my order for handmade Japanese eyeglasses last Sunday. My new spectacles are, in one word, spectacular. However, I'm still fond of my old spectacles and remember well when I picked them out them back in '98. I even had new lenses put in a few years ago when I updated my prescription. So why the change? Please excuse the diatribe here but the following two comments I heard were a bit too frequent for my liking:
1) "You look like Harry Potter"
Not that there's anything wrong with Daniel Radcliffe himself, but I don't want to be compared to a school-aged, aspiring wizard.
2) "They make you look...intelligent."
To be thought of as intelligent, in and of itself, is a great compliment - I'm not disputing that. Being told you look intelligent because of the words coming out of your mouth, or even due simply to one's posture or tone of voice would imply a true and innate wisdom. On the other hand, being told you suddenly look intelligent when you sport a pair of glasses on your face, misconstrued, could be taken to mean that you look aloof when bare-faced, or otherwise be attributed to the fact that spectacles are a crutch for being a weak-eyed squinter or a bookworm in bad lighting.
In any case, I decided that I would go for a new, spectacular look; one that made an impression suitable to the eyeglasses themselves and less on the brain behind them. Basically, I went for a bit more style and chose a pair of Japanese styled frames. I made the switch from the wire framed variety to more durable, full-bodied and somehow lighter feeling plastic ones.