Why Statement Sunglasses Are Summer’s Chicest Accessory

A sunglass is the only accessory worn on the face, which is why it changes an outfit faster than anything else you can put on. It is also the reason it fails so loudly when it is wrong.

The shapes are doing different jobs this season. Celine and Balenciaga sent the oversized butterfly down the runway — pure Jackie O scale, the most directional choice of the summer. Dior and Alaïa reimagined the cat-eye in bolder, more sculptural forms, the upswept corner lifting the face. Saint Laurent and Bottega Veneta keep the aviator honest. Jacques Marie Mage and Prada own the round and the square, where the frame reads as an object rather than an accessory.

Where it goes wrong is competition. A logo temple plus a loud dress plus a loud bag is three statements arguing, and the face loses. The frame cannot be the jewellery and the jewellery cannot be the jewellery.

The rule is one strong shape and clothes that do not compete. Choose the frame by what it does to the face, not by what walked the runway — a cat-eye lifts, a round softens, a square sharpens, a butterfly hides an early morning entirely.

This is not an edit for anyone collecting frames. It is for the woman who wears one pair all summer — the oversized, the cat-eye, the aviator, the round, the square and the tortoiseshell.