Shielding our baby blues from the sun’s harsh rays is a necessary means to protect our cornea and fight off crow’s feet, but with the abundance of choices, styles and cost, how do we know which to purchase? Celebrity endorsed sunglasses are all the rage with stars like Nicole Richie, LiLo and Kanye making designer sunglasses seem like a summer year round must have. But celebrities change sunglasses as often as us normal ‘ol folk change our underwear, and in this economy, the average Josephine likely can’t keep up. With sunglasses ranging from $100 like Kanye’s popularized Supers (left), pushing $450 for Tom Fords worn by the likes of Angelina Jolie and her hot hubbie to $1500 (I mean, srsly? There are starving children in the world!) for these Louis Vuitton’s (right), we’re afraid we can’t keep up.
    
And luckily, we don’t have to. Celebrities require constant shades as they successfully hide a variety of things: weed smoking, dark circles, no make up, hangover, mean looks, etc. We need our sunglasses to serve a function, albeit a fashionable function, and since we aren’t constantly being photographed, an abundance of designer sunglasses isn’t really necessary. However, if we aim to actually protect our eyes, at least one good expensive pair probably is.

A good pair of UVA and UVB protectorate sunglasses are necessary when you are out in the sun for an extended period of time - lounging at the beach all day or skiing in the Alps. Polarized lenses mean that the lenses reduce glare by blocking intense, reflected light.  Unfortunately, few brands of sunglasses come with polarized lenses. That costs extra people. And even more unfortunately, cheaper sunglasses (Top Shop, H&M, etc.) come with lenses that cannot be replaced with polarized lenses. So, if you aim to truly protect your eyes, you have to buy nicer sunglasses independent of what celebrities are doing.

But for bopping around town shopping, especially if you have on hat or are lunching in the shade, that trendy pair from Top Shop will work just fine at at as low as $4, you can afford to match a pair with every outfit.

Emma Dinzebach

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