Since Google first unveiled Google Glass, many have wondered if people will buy into the device, simply from the fashion perspective. In other words, will people be worried about looking ridiculous in order to use these hi-tech smart devices that could potentially enrich the physical world around them?

Well, that’s probably why Google Glass has already been featured in a fashion show. Good thinking, Google.

I was watching this Eric Schmidt interview from 2010 (to find out how out of context Schimdt’s comments were with regard to their use in a new Microsoft commercial). Schmidt also happened to touch on what would eventually become Google Glass (you can start about 16 minutes in). Remember, this video is from nearly two years before Google unveiled the project.

It seems as though the fashion obstacle has been one Google has been considering for quite some time.

“I’m not sure you really want to walk through town with these odd glasses on, you know, looking like an airforce jetfighter or something,” Schmidt says, adding, “But I’m sure people will. I mean, as I was driving by here, I saw people riding their Segways, you know, looking like normal pedestrians.”

This guy doesn’t seem to mind the look:

Granted, I wouldn’t say he quite looks like a jetfighter.

It’s funny, because now that Google Glass is being spotted out in the wild, this is becoming an actual conversation, and an important issue that Google is going to have to deal with if it’s really serious about Project Glass leading to something meaningful for the company.

Last week, The Atlantic ran an article about a bar owner, who said this on Facebook:

Last night around 9:45 two people walked into the bar. Looked me square in the eye, and acting as if everything was normal they ordered beers.. Oh did I mention they were wearing Google Glasses! In public! In A BAR!

The point of Google Glass is that it’s supposed to enhance your world by bringing the digital to the physical. That means wearing the device pretty much everywhere you would carry your smartphone. That means bars. That means restaurants (I wonder what the anti-Instagram restaurants will think of that). That means subways.

Of course, it’s very possible (and perhaps likely) that this whole endeavor will lead to a contact lens version. When that happens (and if people are willing to physically attach these devices to their eyeballs), Google may just have that problem solved.

If it doesn’t happen, there’s always the smart watch (or maybe the brain implant discussed earlier in the Schmidt video).

[Sergey Brin image: Noah Zerkin]