Eva: I stared at sun to get glasses (From Burnham and Highbridge Weekly News)

Eva: I stared at sun to get glasses

3:53pm Wednesday 20th March 2013 in National Entertainment News © Press Association 2013

Eva Mendes has confessed she wanted glasses so much as a child she used to stare at the sun to try and damage her eyesight.

The 38-year-old actress - who stars with her boyfriend Ryan Gosling in her latest film The Place Beyond The Pines - has just been signed up as the face of Vogue eyewear.

Eva revealed: "I started to need reading glasses like two years ago, but the funny thing is I used to want glasses so bad when I was little that I actually used to stare into the sun to damage my eyesight. My mom would catch me and be like, 'What are you doing?'

"I was obsessed with looking smart. I also went through a stage in junior high where I would wear non-prescription reading glasses and then I got called out one day, so I stopped that because I felt like a phony. So, as of two years ago, I just started needing them. I love them. Wearing glasses adds an instant quirk and elegance."

The fashionista is also launching her own clothing line for New York & Company, but revealed she will be aiming to make trend-bucking designs for voluptuous women.

Eva said: "I come from a family where the women are more voluptuous so I like to cater to that.

"I don't follow trends. In fact, the worst thing a sales person can tell me when I'm in a shop is, 'Oh, that's been a hot-seller.'

"Most of what I wear is vintage. I like little boutiques. I feel stressed in department stores. I like thrift shops more than vintage stores because at vintage stores just calling it 'vintage' kind of ups the price."