The Hunt for the Right Shades

I thought about buying a pair of round sunglasses this summer. I pictured myself wearing sphere-shaped tortoiseshell shades with bright red lipstick for the entire summer, until I changed my look again for fall. But something has held me back from running to the nearest optical boutique with debit card in hand. Fear, rooted in vanity, had me questioning whether round frames are the look for me.

I’ve always been told that I have a round face. Round face plus round frames may not equal chic new summer look.

I recently noticed one of my colleagues, Stephanie Rosenbloom, wearing a pair of Ray-Ban aviators. To me, aviators epitomize effortless chic. They are another style that I covet but have yet to purchase.

There is no shortage of brands that produce classic aviator sunglasses, and even more sell aviator-inspired styles. I don’t have a lot of time to shop (away from my computer), so how could I possibly decide which pair would be the right fit?

www.visionexpress.com

First, I went online and tested a few virtual try-on rooms on sites like framesdirect.com, visionexpress.com, shadesdaddy.com and fitovers.com. These sites allow you to upload a photo of yourself and see how you would look in a set of frames, much like makeover Web sites. They have clearly improved over time, but I was unable to get a true sense of fit. I ended up looking like a victim of a bad Photoshop job. My images looked superimposed and almost cartoonish. Also, not all brands were available for a virtual test.

Since this will be an investment purchase, not a quick get from the man on the corner who switches his inventory from $10 pashminas to $10 sunglasses every June, it had to be right. This would require going into stores and, gulp, trying them on.

So I enlisted the help of an expert and the peanut gallery. Eden Wexler, of the Solstice sunglass boutique chain, served as the expert; my aviator-bedecked colleague, Ms. Rosenbloom, as the gallery. Besides aviators, Ms. Rosenbloom is pretty loyal to large, Jackie O. style sunglasses. However, she has a petite face and often has trouble with fit.

shadesdaddy.com

We set off to the Solstice store in the Flatiron neighborhood, seeking guidance about how to find the best frames for our faces. When I reached out to Ms. Wexler, we expected to get a lesson in face shapes. But Ms. Wexler, who fits sunglasses for celebrities like Debra Messing and Rob Lowe, offered a more refreshing and helpful philosophy. “I don’t like to strictly follow the face shape guidelines,” she said. “Most people don’t know what face shape they have and it’s all so confusing to people and hard to remember,” she said.

She also said that individual features, your lifestyle and fashion sensibility are much more important in the scheme of things and easier for most people to understand and remember.

Here’s a rundown of her guidelines:

1. Smile Test: When you smile your frames should not be resting on your cheeks. If they lift up when you smile, they are too large.

2. Choose Contoured Frames: You want to minimize the amount of space between your temple and the edge of the frame.

3 Pay Attention to the Bridge: Too much space between the bridge of your glasses and the bridge of your nose is a sign of poor fit.

Paying attention to your retailer’s return policy is also crucial. You don’t want to walk away with regrets, or as I like to say, face remorse official soccer jerseys, so remember to study the fine print before committing.

Now that I have some shopping tips, I’m much closer to channeling John Lennon.