Sunglasses Trends of the ‘00s: Retro Styles Defining a Decade

Trends some and go, and some come back reinvented as a total rehash. Take the ‘70s fashion nostalgia from 1996 to 1998. While it brought back bellbottom jeans that soon became flared leg, polyester shirts and psychedelic accessories soon passed within months. Sunglasses, on the other hand, seem to last longer, although each decade appears to be defined by a style. The ‘80s, more often than not, are associated as much with wayfarer sunglasses as much as they are with Wham! and A Flock of Seagulls and acid wash. The ‘90s, similarly, had wraparound sunglasses and grunge music for most of the decade. The ‘00s? Trends this decade were divided distinctly between those for women and men, and all styles appeared to reflect back to the ‘80s.

The most significant trend in sunglasses for the decade was oversized shades, but these were exclusively for women. This style appeared last in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s but, at the time, was basic. Designer sunglasses at the time often had a black or mock tortoise frame and dark, solid color lenses. Oversized styles for women this decade used the same basic model but became more feminine. Both frames and lenses could be pink, red, or purple and embellished with rhinestones. Juicy Couture was one of the brands for designer sunglasses with such style, although almost all designer lines for women had this style.

For men, the aviator shades were the most popular this decade. The last time aviator shades were seen, outside of a South Park episode, was the ‘80s, in which many male movie or television characters appeared with a basic black or mirrored pair. This time around, though, mirrored shades were out but gradient in, and the frame, instead of being basic metal, could be plastic and colored. This allowed for aviators to be a style also seen on women. Similarly, wayfarer sunglasses had a similar comeback at the end of the decade for both sexes, with a myriad of color and frame possibilities.