Columnist Susan Snyder: The eyes have it at convention

Friday, Sept. 19, 2003 | 4:23 a.m.

Models strolled down a runway to the pulsating techno beat pounding from the Sands Convention Center loudspeakers.

They sported Dior, Gucci, Ralph Lauren and Armani.

Glasses.

Oops. That's eyewear.

And the question at the nation's largest vision trade show isn't, "Do you wear glasses?," so much as, "Why don't you?"

"The last three years we've really seen it going from being a medical device to being a fashion statement," Rene Soltis, spokeswoman for the Vision Council of America, said.

"People have adopted that (attitude), even in small-town America," she said. "People have whole wardrobes of eyewear -- like shoes."

The annual show attracts 20,000 exhibitors and vision industry workers from across the globe, and also a few locals.

"We look for equipment and pharmaceuticals," Joel Adler, a Las Vegas optometrist, said. "I've been going to this show for more than 20 years. We get updated on new products and new ideas. It's fun."

Well, OK. The flaming red Batgirl frames embedded with Swarovski crystals were fun. And it's amazing who sells spectacles these days.

Columbia Sportswear. Jeep. Izod. Hush Puppies, Converse, Steve Madden. Even Fisher Price, Nintendo and Scooby Doo are hawking eyewear (glasses) for everyone from tots to 'tweeners.

For adults, the new look is mod '60s with lots of black and white.

"It's chunky, bold, Jackie O," Soltis said. "It's specs-appeal."

And it's amazing what people in the eyewear (glasses) industry will do to lure clients into a booth.

AO SOLA set up its high-tech laboratory display under a Teflon molecule model 8 billion times bigger than the real thing.

Acuvue contact lenses hired a mime.

Revolution Eyewear hired Dennis Rodman.

The mime had a bigger vocabulary. But Rodman drew a bigger crowd Thursday.

"He's not a signed endorser, but he's worn our glasses," Gary Martin, Revolution owner, said. "You need to create a buzz at the booth, and nobody creates a buzz like Dennis Rodman."

There was something for everyone, including the Four Eyes who can outrun you. One booth displayed so many images of bicycles, basketballs and gym bags it was hard to remember it was about eyewear (glasses).

Most people will spend $250 to $300 on a pair of specs, but others will drop $1,000 or more for frames adorned with real gems, said Scott Helkaa, director of the Community College of Southern Nevada's Ophthalmic Dispensing Program.

One growing area of expertise is vision correction for people who read computer screens all day, he said. The distance from a computer screen is different than that from hand-held written material.

Helkaa trolled the trade show Thursday for new stuff and his students, who got a day off to attend the show.

"In order to get credit they have to bring back four business cards and some of the goodies they got," Helkaa said. Wonder whether anyone snagged a pair of Barbie shades.