Cool shades

by SUBEKSHA POUDEL

FROM ISSUE # 165 (September 2009) | IN THIS ISSUE
	REFER TO FRIEND		PRINT THIS ARTICLE

No fashionista would be caught dead without a pair of cool shades. Your sunglasses bring out your personality, your inner self and enhance your face. But shades have now also become a health accessory to protect one's eyes from harmful UV rays passing through the ozone hole.

Oversized sunglasses

Glamorous and mysterious, not only do they give you a movie-star look but also serve as chic headbands as well. Go for sunglasses with frame shapes opposite of your face type: rectangle for a round face and round for an angular face.

Mirror shades

With mirror coated on the surface, the "cop shades" were popularised by police officers of United States. Also available as 'Wraparound,' these shades are a must for all sporties.

Aviators

Simple tint and large lenses, aviator shades, in its unique tear-drop frame design is an icon of international pop culture. Endlessly modified and updated since the last 70 years, aviators are guaranteed to never fall out of favour.

Tea shades

More commonly known as 'Ozzy Glasses', tea shades were usually worn to hide the 'bloodshot' eyes after smoking marijuana which causes conjunctival injection, or to hide the effects of opiates that caused the constriction of pupils. If that's the reason you are wearing tea shades, that's not cool.

Faded shades

Going from a darker shade at the top to a lighter one at the bottom, faded shades are very handy while driving. You need to protect your eyes while being able to see the dashboard. Also useful in nightclubs.

Shutter shades

Shutter Shades, a series of horizontal plastic lines neither protect the eyes from UV rays nor prevent substantial amount of light from entering the eye. But this functionless accessory is a staple of pop culture with crazy variety available - mirrored lenses to keep the eyes hidden or even glow in the dark frames and for night clubs.

HISTORY

Sunglasses were used in the 12th century for the very first time. While the Roman emperor Nero used emeralds to watch gladiator fights, recreating colours and distorting images, the judges in Chinese courts used flat panes of smoky quartz as lenses to conceal their facial expressions while questioning witnesses.

DEBUT

The optical firm - Bausch & Lomb – produced dark-green tinted lenses in the 1930s. Absorbing light in the yellow band of the spectrum, the Army Air Corps used these shades to protect pilots from the dangers of high-altitude glare.

SHADES TRIVIA

* Every 14 minutes someone loses or breaks or sits on a pair of sunglasses.
* Shades are one of the five most stolen items in a drugstore.