Practicality aside, Literary Sport creative director Jackie McKeown often styles models with sunglasses as a headband or worn atop a beanie to add depth to an outfit that might otherwise feel flat. “I think it keeps the fit intact in a certain way, like when you are sitting in a bar, and you have to take off the glasses. It allows them to still be part of the outfit without being on your face,” she says. “It feels reminiscent of old hiking references, or skiing, where you’re just putting a goggle up on your helmet.”
The sunglass play doesn’t stop there. Men are also styling their shades resting across the bill of their ball caps, backwoods style, as Jeremy Dufrene, Lana Del Rey’s fanboat-driving husband, did at Paris Fashion Week. Sunglasses are being worn backward, styled with Croakies (a.k.a. those neoprene straps favored by powerboaters) hanging from the neck, or even dangling from a belt loop. “It’s become this interesting thing where you just strap them to you as an accessory on its own,” McKeown says. “Whether they’re on your face or not, it’s this other kind of addition to the look.”
More than just shielding your eyes from the sun, sunglasses have become another piece of jewelry, with all the potential for stylish experimentation that entails. There may not be a “right” way to wear them (aside from on your face, naturally), but the wrong way seems obvious to those in the know. Toda-Nation put it bluntly: “There’s something about putting it on your T-shirt that looks a bit shit.”
