Movie Style Guy: Shades of Cool

Posted by Robert Fure (robert@filmschoolrejects.com) on April 30, 2008

Hello all, it’s your ever lovable Movie Style Guy here with a quick one for you. As summer quickly approaches, soon the sun will be out in full force and it’ll be time to whip out a pair of sunglasses and face the world. Now I’m not a fan of big, dumb sunglasses on girls and apparently some of these glasses are marketed to men now. Please avoid them.

The Classic – Aviators

After Top Gun soared through the danger zone, sales of these glasses went through the roof again. Thankfully they’re still in style to this day and are offered by a lot of companies in a lot of styles. Grab a pair that fits your face – you may want big lenses or small lenses. I have both. There are a lot of color choices as well, from Jack Baur’s orange to sky blue to reflective silver. I would say stay away from the mirrored glasses unless you want to look like a Pennsylvania State Trooper. But a pair or two of these is essential to any collection. Tony Stark sports a pair of thin framed, red/orange lenses aviators in the awesome Iron Man.

The Retro – Wayfarers

This stretch back a little bit further than the aviators, to the glory days of jazz and secret agents. These aren’t as popular as aviators – yet. They will be soon, I’m calling it now. They have slowly started coming back to film and television, notably in Psych. These are great, classic sunglasses that can be worn with a suit or to the beach. Plus, they’re very dark, completely blocking your eyes without being mirrored and they dominate even the most intense noon day sun. Grab a pair of these classically cool retro shades and whip out the harmonica, Elwood.

The Modern – Designer Frames

This is just covering some of the new men’s styles. They’re generally a touch larger than normal with thin frames but wider ear pieces. Dolce and Gabbanna makes a variety of these, as do many of manufacturers. The downside to these designer type frames though is that they’re often don’t mesh well with casual dress. Perfect for a suit if you’ve got an extra $400 burning a hole through your spare change drawer, but definitely not essential. I can’t place the brand, but Iron Man again features Tony Stark sporting a very chic pair of designer shades.

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