Getting the Vintage Look with Designer Sunglasses

Vintage is in, especially where sunglasses are concerned. Certain styles keep on returning, and wayfarer and aviator shades are two that have been seen sometime before. A piece on Boston.com for column Stylephile details a local business that sells vintage sunglasses. This includes aviator shades by Carrera and oversized sunglasses by Dior and a few other brands. While the piece generally doesn’t have much to say, it’s an instance in which the pictures say a thousand words.

As the unisex shades by Carrera indicate in the Boston.com piece, aviators are back. At one point, however, these sunglasses were designed with a male or unisex customer in mind, and Carrera’s product line still has much of the same outlook. Carrera sunglasses have a basic metal or plastic frame and dark-colored lenses. Ideal for the athlete or someone looking for gender-neutral style, Carrera sunglasses are practical and transcend fashion.

The Ultra Sudan and Dior sunglasses in the Boston.com piece also indicate that femininity has always been present in oversized styles. Back then, this was through a floral-print frame or grey-purple lenses with metal side orbs. In the present, the grey-purple shade is still fashionable – especially with a gradient look – but the flowers have been replaced by rhinestones.

Trends, of course, go through 20-year cycles, which is why these sunglasses styles from the ‘80s are now vintage and making their way back into various designer product lines. Some trends go back even further, such as wayfarer sunglasses – the crowning achievement by Ray Ban – that were created in the 1950s. Many associate this style with the 1980s, but they, too, have gone through various fashion cycles.

If you’re considering vintage style, many designer sunglasses revisit the wayfarer, aviator, and oversized looks popular 20 years ago. Some of these are updated – such as rhinestones on many oversized styles – but others offer a sleeker look on a classic.