Kanye West, musician, designer, and the man singlehandedly responsible for Kim Kardashian’s high-fashion makeover, is officially over big sunglasses. Actually, he’s over normal-sized ones too.
What he’s into are tiny sunglasses, like those recently spotted on the faces of Bella Hadid, Rihanna, and of course, Kim. This means that, as much as you may initially want to resist it, soon you will be into them too. Don’t believe me? Consider the fact that grandpa shoes, another West-approved trend, are happening. Then recall all the other looks Kanye has made pop, like monochrome dressing, breezy trench coats over skin-tight dresses, and those very sweaty-seeming clear PVC boots.
We know about West’s particular proclivity for small shades because on a recent episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Kim admitted that Kanye sends her what I can only imagine are the most unintentionally amusing emails ever about what she should and should not wear.
“Kanye sent me a whole email like, ‘You cannot wear big glasses anymore. It’s all about tiny little glasses,’” she told Kourtney and Jonathan Cheban. “He sent me like, millions of ’90s photos with tiny little glasses. ”
See, while the rest of us have to wait for Kanye’s fashion genius to manifest on the runway (or these days, through paparazzi shots of Kim),Kardashian gets his missives directly in her inbox. Also, can you envision Kanye just spending an hour and a half trolling Google Images for pictures of people in tiny little glasses to send to Kim? It’s maybe the most endeared I’ve ever felt towards him.
Unfortunately, West’s sartorial whims don’t always take into account what regular people look good in. In fact, it’s hard to imagine the real advantages to the skinny sunglass, other than the Kanye seal of approval, of course. While big sunglasses obscure facial “flaws” and make features appear more delicate, smaller shades can have the unfortunate effect of making the face appear rounder. They also kind of make you look like a bug?
I know people say big sunglasses make women look buggy, but I think some of these super skinny small ones are downright insect-like. That being said, if you have a smaller or thinner face that’s easily overwhelmed by larger sunnies, this could potentially be the trend you’ve been waiting for.
If you’re going to try it, consider opting for a cat eye silhouette, which pulls the features up visually, mitigating some of the bugginess as well as the round-face syndrome. Don’t be afraid to wear them a little further down on your nose than you ordinarily would. This will give you the opportunity to peer over them slightly, making you look intelligent and mysterious, like Yoko Ono (who I can only imagine was included in West’s image round-up) or a hippie-era intellectual. And, finally, take a selfie, because you’re basically an Instamodel now.
ASOS Small Cat Eye Fashion Glasses, $19, ASOS
People will have a hard time differentiating between you and a Hadid sister.
ASOS Small Pointy Cat Eye Sunglasses, $19, ASOS
Slightly wider (and thus, more wearable), plus a funky pop of red.
Rimless Oval Colored Lens Sunglasses, $18, Sunglass Museum
These are aggressively ’90s and thus very on-trend, if you can pull them off.
Skinny Narrow Cat Eye Sunglasses, $28, Etsy
Inspired by your grandmother’s reading glasses, but, like, in a cool way.
Got A Crush Oval Sunnies, $20, Free People
Groovy, huh?
Kendall and Kylie Kye Rimless Oval Sunglasses, $80, Bloomingdale’s
Of course Kendall and Kylie have already figured out a way to profit from this trend.
Ray-Ban Oval Flat Lens Sunglasses, $153, Macy’s
A true classic.
Le Specs x Adam Selman Last Lolita Cat Eye Sunglasses, $119, MyTheresa
Adam Selman has been leading the charge on the skinny cat eye comeback, and the pink lenses in these are next level.
