I get it, it's the 32nd century and the glasses are maybe heads up displays that only he can see and use. But don't you think in three thousand years they would have figured out how to build that stuff INTO or ONTO the eye? Instead of making the person, or the person choosing to wear an ancient form of corrective lenses.
Glasses are fashion items as well. Even when they've become entirely useless, people will still wear them, just like other non-functional clothing items like ties.
It'd be like a modern day executive wearing cufflinks.
We've had buttons for a long time, some people are just hipsters.
But also, Star Trek has a long history of justifying contemporary-looking people as a fashion choice. I've always remembered this one thing from one of the novels where they imply that they can easily keep everybody thin and fit indefinitely, but admirals like to get a bit pudgy on purpose because it makes them look stately.
And also makes casting and wardrobe choices a lot simpler, but I don't think the book said that.
There are quite a few examples of this actually happening. I've already mentioned neckties, but perhaps a better equivalent would be high-heels. Once worn by men as functional riding shoes, they've now entirely lost that use and are worn by women solely as a fashion item.
Not sure if this is true, but I remember reading that Churchill used to insert a straightened paperclip into his cigars so that the ash would stay attached to the cigar even when it was burned way down. People would be distracted watching the cigar waiting for the ash to fall, breaking their concentration and giving him an advantage
My friend's mom was a smoker and a hand talker, also didn't really ash when one might expect. She'd be waving around a cigarette with an inch ash on the end, it was wild. Maybe there was secretly a paper clip in there.
In that case, I'll put on my 17th century dress wear for my next evening event ... no one will be able to beat my witty arguments while wearing my formal dress, neck ring, leggings and pompom high heel shoes
Well, if you recall it was Win... Winston Chur... Winston Churchi- I'm sorry, but are you really just gonna stand around like that while we debate? And why the fuck is there an artist doing an oil painting of you right now? Whatever, I can't debate with someone like this!
The more I think about the reasons why his character has glasses ... and the more I look at him and remember his character ... the more I thought that he was probably an android of some sort and the glasses might have been just a distraction or deception so that people wouldn't think he wasn't human.
You bring up "showing up in medieval dress clothes" but that's literally what Kovich is doing. In a room full of people in futuristic Starfleet uniforms, Kovich is wearing a vaguely futuristic suit and tie that is barely different from the fashion of the 21st century, and throwing holograms at Georgiou that have the exact same defects that 23rd century holograms did.
Kovich clearly has a thing for relics. It could tie into his interest in Georgiou as well.
I was cleaning some metal tools a few days ago and I got some rust in my eye ... it's been bothering me since then but it's healing ... at the height of it, it was so irritated that I wouldn't have minded someone butchering it to fix it.
I've also had snow blindness several times as a kid in northern Ontario ... it usually happens in March / April because the snow is still on the ground and there is lots of sunlight .. it's like having sandpaper in (emphasis on inside) your eyeball that you can't relieve even when you close them. It's times like that when I wouldn't have minded someone butchering my eyeball if they said it would make things better.
On the other side of that ... yes I wouldn't want any 21st century doctor or surgeon to fool around with my healthy eyeball in any way ... but I would trust a surgeon or technician from the 32nd century using highly advanced and tested technology.