DEFINITIVE : Cool Shades Have Their Day in the Sun

What would James Dean have been without those shades? Maybe just another squinty-eyed kid without a cause.

Add sunglasses and, presto, instant cult figure. Sunglasses can do that.

They are, of course, practical. Judges in 15th-Century China wore quartz glasses blackened over fire to conceal their reaction to testimony. Eskimos, hunting on Arctic ice, looked through the slits of bone and leather eyeshades to dampen the glare.

But Hollywood made sunglasses fashionable. World War II pilots wore them to help spot enemy planes, and soon sunglasses were de rigueur for stars around the Beverly Hills Hotel pool.

Presto, instant style commandment.

Nowadays, you get a choice. Light lenses are designed more for your look than your looking. General-purpose lenses are for real protection in the sun. “UV 400” means the lenses screen out all dangerous ultraviolet light. Opticians can coat existing or new lenses with UV protective tint.

Dark green and gray-shaded lenses don’t distort colors; amber and brown do, but help you see through smog and haze.

Glass or plastic lenses? Modern plastic can be anti-scratch coated, but heavier glass is favored by those who think it’s the ultimate in clear vision.

The classic Ray-Ban “Wayfarer” style that was popular in the ‘50s is still a big seller. Matsuda also has lines in this quintessential style with the hand-tooled hardware fine detail and tortoise-shell frames.