How I Met Your Sunglass List

It seems sad that someone who has genuine TV cute like Rachel Bilson requires a fairly old reference in the title of this blog entry. But she was good in the role on How I Met Your Mother (which did just have some success at the Emmy's, hello timeliness!) and at least I'm not citing her for her serial dating of almost-were actors.

As Sunglass Hut’s resident celeb “Style Director,” Rachel Bilson has come out with her recommended hit list of stylish eyewear, Rachel’s Collection. There’s something just plain adorable about Rachel, but I was pretty skeptical about her determining sunglass styles for the nation.  I mean, sure she was a judge on Project Runway, great. But so was Sarah Jessica Parker, who completely lost my fashion respect with her infamous SATC premiere flowerpot hat to top a list of crimes against design.

But I like to give the benefit of the doubt—and RB usually looks like she has her own fashion drummer keeping a pretty decent beat—so I looked at her picks at Sunglass Hut’s website:

 http://www.sunglasshut.com/sgh/collectionDetailPage.jsp?collectionId=rachelscollection

She plays it pretty safe, which makes sense for her first time out of the gate. Of course the Ray-Ban Aviator and Wayfarer topped her list along with several other takes on aviators. They are produced by Luxottica (owner of Sunglass Hut), and they are classic and maintain their cool and the two styles cover the lion’s share of many people’s day-to-day sunglass needs.

The other picks continued safe with sporty Maui Jims, which I am sure are a huge seller for the Sunglass Hut chain, but I don’t really buy as a top-10 pick for a girl like Rachel who was rocking it out in Chloe sunglasses just last summer. Maybe she has a secret golf addiction that I don’t know about.

Another puzzling choice was a Bvlgari frame. Please don’t get me wrong…I LOVE Bvlgari sunglasses—I’m Italian! I’m from Jersey! I’m a little more…ahem…mature…than Rachel. So what? Don’t judge me!

And back to my point: Rachel is just a little young for some of the choices on the list. It’s puzzling that you can select a pretty cute but fairly conservative Persol model and one of the “If you like this you might like….” items is the Mosley Tribes sunglass style Patterson (with which I had a passionate love affair last spring. Call me, Pat! Sigh.) That’s the kind of look I suspect Rachel would rock in “real life.” So why isn’t that on the list? WHY?

Yes I am aware that Rachel herself probably didn’t choose “Rachel’s List.” That might be the real shame of the list. The Featured Trends on the website, Geek, Hollywood, and Retro Prim, are also attributed to the new style director’s choices but they reflect a much cuter look and are way more age-appropriate. And, best of all, they show that the style director may actually have some personal style.