Elton John On Feeling Really ‘Exposed’ Without His Signature Item

In his over 40-year stage career, Elton John has never performed without wearing glasses. Even seeing him in photos in public without them is odd. The reason is that he says he feels exposed without them on. Perhaps the Rocket Man has too many stories behind those eyes that he doesn't want to share with the public.

The rocker's husband, David Furnish, admitted that Elton John owns thousands or pairs of glasses. But most of them are kept in storage. I suppose one would collect a lot of their favorite thing over four decades. Especially when money isn't an object. What would you collect if you had endless money to spend?

Elton John loves glasses so much, he has designed his own line of them. They are sold at a shop in central London, mostly. You can also buy them online at EltonJohnEyewear.com. A lot of cool styles are available. It's clear the man has a passion for eye fashion.

In spite of the fact that Elton John has a great eye for eyewear, he won't be wearing any of them onstage for any of his shows. That is, unless he starts designing for Gucci. John has a contract with the fashion empire to wear their glasses while he's performing on tour.

In an interview with Sunday Times, John said he tried to go without his trademark look back in the 80's but he didn't feel like himself. He went on to say that wearing his glasses actually make him feel more confident.

We agree, seeing John without his glasses makes us do a double take. Here's some pics of the few times he went without his trademark look, and some of our favorite pairs of glasses John has worn on stage. - Wendy Rush

This doesn't even look like Elton John! And not because he's so young. Without the glasses, I would never have guessed it was him. This is when he was making his acceptance speech at the 1978 NME Awards.

We love these glasses. It's probably hard to see when we're sitting in the seats at a concert, but there's a lot of red bling on these glasses. And you know you've made it when you can wear your name on your specs.

Okay seriously. If I saw this guy on the street, I would think it's an Elton John lookalike. But it's not. It's the real Elton. Just looks very different sans glasses on the tennis court.

Who needs a sleep mask with miniature awnings on your glasses? Or maybe he closes the shades to hide his allergies. Whatever the case, we're digging these.

Now, Rod Stewart is unmistakable. But who is that bare-faced guy with him? Yep, that's Elton John.

On behalf of soccer moms everywhere, I love these glasses. Just wish I could get away with wearing them. My face couldn't pull it off anywhere near as well as Elton's does.

With the piano and the crazy outfit, it's definitely easier to tell this is Elton John. Still weird he's not wear any specs.

You know we had to give a shout out to the heart glasses. John picked these for the 2019 "Rocketman" screening in Cannes. Tre chic!