I’m sitting at this folding table at this outdoor flea market in Lawrenceville a few summers ago, sweating next to an ashtray made from two cups glued together and this woman beside me trying on these green tinted aviators, big bulky insurance adjuster shit that looked like they couldnt possibly fit her face. Way too wide at the temple, low riding on her nose. Meaty frames meant for someone with a larger head and more masculine jawline. And they looked amazing on her. Not like, good for a flea market they’ve pitched for decades in flattering light amazing. They LOOKED AMAZING on her.
I put my own pair I was holding back down on the table and just kind of stared like an asshole.
TLDR; Women can wear men’s sunglasses. They can rock them. Not just wear them, but absolutely murder them on. Better than the guy wearing the exact same style three feet away is looking. Ask me how.
Alright, but really, let’s dive into it. Can women pull off wearing men’s sunglasses? Sure can. Not just sure, lope over to the men’s department and back with something that works. Can they crush them? Hell yes. Let me tell you why.
The frame doesn’t care who you are
Let’s start with something most people don’t think about when it comes to older sunglasses, the ones ACTUALLY made for men in the sixties and seventies before every product had to be carefully marketed to twenty different demographics. Back then there wasn’t some hard and fast idea of frames needing to be masculine or feminine in their proportions the way so many clothes and object are nowadays. Authentic vintage shades from the 60’s and 70’s, like a real Ray Ban Wayfarer from 19’68 or an old pair of Persol folding frames were designed to fit a wide variety of faces. The “mens” label you’ll see later down the road probably got slapped on by whoever was packaging them at the time, not because the frame itself cares what gender you are. Serious_ICON–>Frames are made of plastic and metal bent into shapes. It is not cognizant of your gender.
What actually happened to womens sunglasses especially starting around the eighties was this notion that they needed to be smaller than men’s, daintier, more adorned. Sticky crystals on the hinge. Skinny arms and the cat eye shape that only truly works if you were born with a strong brow. Meanwhile the men’s section was still churning out mostly straightforward, well proportioned frames that folks wore because they worked. You’re not breaking any unspoken rules when you, as a woman, put on a pair of frames meant for a mans face, because that frame was built to fit a human face. Period. The larger lens does more. It covers more facial area, which reads as strong rather than fragile, and it also just straight up photographs better because there’s more actual frame encasing your eyes rather than just two strips of plastic sitting on your face.
I still think about that woman to this day. Gods knows why. But she wasn’t wearing those sunglasses to make a point. She didn’t wake up and think about what flattered her feminine shape. She just grabbed the first pair she saw were willing to fit her head and kept shopping because the frames were built correctly in the first place forty years ago, long before anyone decided they needed a twin that was “for the ladies”.
Where it actually goes wrong, and no it’s not the size.
I will however say that I’m not going to pretend like every frame sold on the mens wall works on every woman. That’s called lying to yourself right there, and I try not to do that. Point of failure isn’t the style being marketed toward men. It’s fit. Always fit. A frame that’s shaped for someone with a broad face is going to slide all over a thin nose. Something with a shorter bridge isn’t going to sit right if your nose is more up and down than east-west. It applies to anyone, regardless of what gender you sling at me, and trying to throw out a whole category of frames just because you’re worried about that specific_measurement doesn’t solve anything.
My other gripe is when people pick up a men’s frame trying to prove a point instead of because they actually like how they look. Oversized square frames can work amazingly on women, but only when the proportions actually suit the face wearing them. Female folk grabbing frames simply because they read an article about how cool it is to shop in the men’s department right now end up looking like they’re wearing the sunglasses more than the sunglasses are sitting on their face. There’s tension there. I’m seeing it right now in my mind. Lazy asses scrolling through images on their phone instead of trying frames on. I saw this happen dozens of times once combing through a bin of utterly garbage plastic frames that were labeled “Unisex Vintage” (they were not vintage) but about half of them were men’s styles shoved onto women’s faces to make some weird statement about “gender neutral”. Every. Single. Pair. Could’ve ACTUALLY worked if they weren’t hitched halfway up some stranger’s head trying so desperately to MAKE PEOPLE THINK something about gender fluidity. Actual vintage frames from the men’s section don’t try.
They just ARE.
My point, and what I’d tell a buddy if they were really standing in front of me asking about this specific topic, is that this never really had anything to do with gender at all. Was this style going to work on their face? Men’s frames inherently have a tendency to be built bigger and more traditionally, which is a UNIVERSAL fit a lot of people’s faces actually lean towards. Gender aside. If you want a tip for rocking men’s styles as a woman, that’s it. They were built with less flair in the design department which happens to suit millions of faces. Pizza stays hot because it’s insulated by more pizza. Thats the level we’re at.
Callum has spent ten years digging through car boot sales and charity shops in Glasgow. He writes about vintage menswear and old workwear, and he’s happiest when he’s found something good buried at the back of a rail.
