What do you look for when you’re in the market for new sunglasses? Do you look for new technology like polarized sunglasses? Do you look for something that makes the world look darker? Or maybe you’re looking for something that will protect your eyes from future cataracts? Or, maybe, you’re just looking for something that makes you look cool. All your favorite celebrities are doing it, so why wouldn’t you?
This is the second golden age of sunglasses. The first was in the 70’s when the TV show “Chips” made shiny sunglasses look cool and every female celebrity was wearing almost comically sized glasses. Now-a-days, celebrities make sunglasses part of their everyday ensemble- may they be indoors or out, in rainy or sunny weather. That’s right, sunglasses aren’t just for, umm, sunlight anymore.
There is a reason why people pay celebrities to wear their gear: people will track down and purchase these products. There are websites which are dedicated solely to who is wearing what and where you can buy it. Sunglasses are no different: if you want to know what glasses Paris Hilton wore last Thursday at Kai, you can find your answer online (as well as a link to buy them). And yes, Paris Hilton makes a lot of money wearing certain products because do care.
If you pay attention to the music scene at all you’ll know that there are two individuals who have made sunglasses so much of a part of their ensemble that it would be hard to imagine them with them: rapper Jay-Z and U2 lead singer Bono. Arguably, Jay-Z could be the most fashionable rapper of all time. One of the rare rappers to be able to keep his street cred while becoming a multi-million dollar entrepreneur, Jay-Z has been wearing dark shaded, black sunglasses for years. Whether it be on stage, in the crowd at awards shows or at a product launch, Jay-Z has been able to look cool and classy for years when wearing his black glasses.
It can be safe to say that many U2 fans have never seen frontman Bono without sunglasses. I can nary think of a picture where Bono was sun-glassesless. The reason for this, he says, is because his eyes are terribly sensitive to light. Whatever the reason, Bono has had individual websites dedicated to finding his (pricey) sunglasses.
Thankfully for those of us who don’t survive on a multi-million dollar budget, really cool polarized sunglasses come in a variety of prices. For those of us who want to spend $200 on sunglasses there are boutiques which will be happy to take your money. But for those of us who only want to spend $10 there are plenty of options both on the web and in stores. The main thing to remember is that no matter how good they look if they aren’t comfortable then there really isn’t a reason to get them. You have to wear them not just pose in them.