The Future’s So Bright, You Gotta Wear Expensive Shades

I read an article in The New York Times the other day about New York shoppers spending three or four hundred bucks on a pair of sunglasses at stores like Ilori in SoHo. According to the article, market research firm The NPD Group has tracked purchases of luxury goods and, even in this constantly drooping economy, the amount spent on designer sunglasses has gone up while the amount spent on designer purses has gone down.

By Abigail

I’m not at all surprised.

Even more so than a purse or shoes, sunglasses are the first thing people notice about your outfit. You wear them all day and some people, like myself, wear them everyday. So why not drop as much on a pair of Gucci shades as you do on a pair of Manolo’s if you’ve got the spare change?

In recent years sunglasses have become the new It accessory. Pictures of Nicole Richie in oversize glasses that engulfed her tiny head became as ubiquitous in tabloids as pictures of Britney Spear’s cellulite, and the Olsen twins are now more famous for their Ray-Ban Wayfarers than their Balenciaga Motorcycle bags. Even wearing sunglasses at night has become popular with hundreds of pictures of drunk hipsters wearing the Kanye West designed shutter shades in dark clubs on websites like lastnightsparty.com.

If you’re like me and you can name the designer behind a pair of jeans based on the stitching on the back pocket (and you know that Seven7 jeans are nothing like 7‘s), and you can identify a Marc Jacobs or Chloe bag based on the metal hardware, then it makes sense to think about spending hundreds on a pair of sunglasses. Unlike a t-shirt, which can’t be easily identified (who can really tell the difference between an Alexander Wang tank and an American Apparel one, anyway?), sunglasses are as identifiable as jeans or purses. When you spend $300 on a pair of shades you’re not doing it for the UV protection, you’re doing it for the status. It’s a two fold thing. You’re letting everyone know that: 1) you know fashion, and 2) you can afford to spend $300 on a piece of plastic and metal.

The problem is, not everyone can afford a pair of Chanel or Karen Walker (my personal favorite) sunglasses. Instead of trying to save up and buy shades I’ll probably just scratch or lose, I prefer to buy several pairs (okay, maybe tens of pairs) at stores like Forever 21 that make fantastic knock-offs of designer styles. Instead of buying just one pair that goes with every outfit, I buy separate pairs for separate outfits.

Whether you chose to spend a lot on one pair or to spend little on many, many pairs, remember to take care of them. Invest in a nice case and a soft glasses cleaning cloth. Nothing is worse then spending your hard earned dough on something you accidentally step on when you roll out of bed in the morning or crush in your trendy, over-sized (and over-priced) handbag.

[Image from thesun.co.uk]