HOW TO PLAY THE FRAME GAME
FIND THE SUNGLASSES THAT PERFECTLY FIT YOUR FACE
The right sunnies are an investment buy with the power to transform your look.
While navigating the bewildering array of options may seem easier said than done, there’s a simple set of criteria that will lead you straight to the perfect pair.
We’ll start with choosing a frame colour. Sunglass Hut buying director Francesca Pezzutto said the hue of your skin, hair and eyes was the best clue.
“All people have either cool (blue-based) or warm (yellow-based) colouring and everyone looks best in his or her own colour base,” she says.
“A cool complexion has blue or pink undertones and a warm complexion has a ‘peaches and cream’ or yellow cast. Olive skin is considered cool because it is a mixture of blue and yellow.
“Hair colours are also considered warm or cool. Strawberry blond, platinum, blue-black, white, salt-and-pepper are cool. Warm hair colours include golden blond, flat black and brown-gold.”
If you have warm colouring, Francesca says the most flattering frames are camel, khaki, gold, copper, peach, orange, coral, off-white, fire-engine red, warm blue or blond tortoise.
“For cool colouring, the best eyeglass frame hues are black, rose-brown, blue-grey, plum, magenta, pink, jade, blue and demi-amber (darker) tortoise,” she says.
Shape is the other deciding factor. While fashion plays a part in the styles you’ll see on the shelves, there’s no substitute for what suits you.
There’s a rising trend in round and oval-shaped lenses, ideal for those with square-shaped facial features.
“Since square-shaped faces have strong jaw lines, rounded glasses soften and balance these straight facial features,” Francesca says.
If you have a round face, you’ll look good in square or hexagonal frames.
“The straight and angular lines in the frame can minimise fullness in the face, as will deep colours such as black or tortoiseshell,” Francesca says.
Francesca says the cat eye is an immortal silhouette.
“Oval faces that are longer than they are wide suit most frames and the cat eye is a great fit,” she says.