Snow has blanketed the ground for the past month, but spring is only a few months away. Designers, already, are unveiling their spring collections at fashion shows, and solid, bright colors characterize all aspects of fashion – even designer sunglasses. While bright colors, from pink to neon shades, can be found on women’s styles and unisex wayfarers, not every trend for spring 2011 is color-driven. Rather, collections focus on classic and unisex looks and, particularly for women’s shades, stay far away from the glitter and rhinestones from a few years ago.
Cat eye shades are part of many collections of designer sunglasses. A fusion of the lower curves of wayfarers and the angular style of 1950s women’s sunglasses, cat eye frames are not uniform. Instead, some go for an overall angular look, while others blend the two types of lines. As a feminine alternative to wayfarers, cat eye sunglasses are poised to eclipse the oversized shades that were a fashion staple for most of the last decade.
Wayfarers, which are now appearing in collections of designer sunglasses outside of Ray-Ban, also combine straight and curved lines. As a classic look, wayfarer sunglasses allow for color experimentation. Although going with fully black shades is not a fashion faux pas, colored frames have a touch of individuality. Spanning all shades from turquoise, red, and pink to neon yellow and green, colored wayfarer frames, as well as lenses, give each pair of sunglasses its own character.
Another classic look, aviators have been part of many designer sunglasses collections for the past five years. Much like cat eye and wayfarer styles, aviators have gone beyond the classic look and, through plastic frames, offered more color options. This look, however, has been exhausted for the past year or so, and aviator sunglasses, for both sexes, now have a back-to-basics look of black or mirrored lenses.