A fun - if offbeat - trend has emerged in the hippest after-school hangouts in Bangkok: wearing cosmetic contact lenses that make the iris of your eye look improbably large and outlandishly Anime. “They make my eyes so pretty and colorful,” one 16 year old told GlobalPost. “All my friends wear them.” Whether you want your irises rimmed in cutesie butterflies and stars, overlayed with the black-and-white pattern of a soccer ball, or otherworldly and fabulous, BigEyeShop.com has cartoonish contacts for any occasion. “It stems from Korean pop stars and their power to influence Thai teenagers,” explains Big Eye Shop's owner, Patchalin Puattrakul. “Some girls want really black eyes. They don’t like the whites of their eyes. It makes them look more child-like, more adorable. And some girls buy two pairs each month (despite the $30/pair pricetag). It’s a fashion accessory. You can’t wear the same set of clothes all year, right?”
For more of an eyeful of the Big Eye trend, check out the video at GlobalPost.com.
- Lesley Scott
