Sunglasses of Star Wars

Today should be all about the VMAs. And I’m going to get to them…tomorrow! For today, here’s a little reflection on sunwear and one of the all-time best films series. Ever. STAR WARS!

Out in space, even a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, humans, humanoids, and other life forces struggled with glare and optical discomfort due to one or more suns. If given the choice, what sunglasses would they wear. Here's my semi-professional and extremely opinionated opinion.

Yoda in Wayfarers.

Yoda is what, a thousand years old? I don’t know, Star Wars experts, please feel free to advise. The point is: this guy is busy being wise, training Jedi’s, and walking the line between tough and huggably cute. So he needs classic sunglasses that can carry him from swamp planet, to desert planet, to spacecraft in style. The enduring wayfarer is definitely going to do the trick. For the t-shirt, visit: http://www.80stees.com/products/Cool-Yoda-Star-Wars-T-shirt.asp?referer=froogle_SWARS211

Luke Skywalker in Aviators

He’s young and sassy, and even though Luke doesn’t know it, his dad is a total badass. So Luke needs something that says, “I might be a patriot or a might cause a riot.” And aviators have plenty of rogue factor to allow for looks ranging from federation hero to lone wolf Jedi. (Shown: Luke Skywalker in rebel fight suit USB cover from Mimoco.) With blond hair and a tan, he'd probably rock these limited edition Michael Kors 22k gold aviators pretty hard (he is a prince by birth, after all!)

Darth Vader's Tough Glam Look

THE ultimate badass. Darth is like a space biker. But rich. Chic. Glossy. He has a fake planet for crying out loud. Yeah, it’s his bosses’ fake planet, but regardless Darth is pretty high up in the dark and tough ranks. Something from Optical Shop International, probably Chrome Hearts, a super luxe line, would definitely be in his sunglass wardrobe. Style Taint might really speak to a fellow who isn’t quite a robot and isn’t quite a man

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.

Where Are the Wild Things?

Now I totally understand when you are too hot to do anything even remotely creative or otherwise potentially heat generating. In fact, at lunch today all I could think about is how good it would feel to dump my chilled asparagus soup over my head.

Which I managed not to do, but I still think it would feel good.

Anyway, one of the things I usually love best in New York City is watching the sunglasses go by. Checking the scene out, I get information on trends and confirmation that I kind of understand what’s going on style-wise.

But two days in the city this week didn’t blow my mind. Oh the looks were good. Timeless and stylish. But not moving fashion forward in any way. The streets were filled with lots of simple oversized black frames for the ladies.  Oakley’s and wrap looks on the guys. Wayfarers and aviators for everyone. (Including me. Yes, I’m still loving my gray leather Tod’s aviators. It’s the first aviator I’ve tried on that didn’t give me a mean bug look and I’m absolutely reveling it.)

So my point?

Turns out I have two.

People don’t quite seem to be pulling out of the financial prudence cycle in terms of getting impulsive, sassy sunglasses.

People really should start pepping up their sunglasses again, even if they have to do some bargain shopping. Which are totally possible (like the sale at Robert Marc’s stores this week!). 

So while I’d never encourage anyone to buy sunglasses from the black market types…I’ll go off on that at some future point…I am strongly encouraging those in the fashion capitol of the U.S. to step it up with the sunglasses.

I’m warning you, New York. If you keep this up, I’m going to do a weeklong tribute to the awesome sunglasses designed in California. Or Europe. Or BOTH!

Watch it.

Here's an Italian fashion forward look...fashion design and planning students in Florence highlighted X-Ide's styles with Casentino Felt. Not exactly suited for the streets, but it's definitely a new twist! (And it might help absorb sweat! Thusly solving yesterday's problems!)