Vintage sunglasses comeback Velda Musengeyi

Yvonne Ncube, Showbiz Reporter
Today’s trend focus is eyewear.  This season has seen a massive comeback of vintage sunglass shapes for both men and women. This time around, designers were tirelessly releasing eyewear silhouettes, the update no one knew they needed.

Coming back in different shades of green, pink, beige, blue and in oversized frames, surely there’s no explanation needed as to why they have looted hearts of many.

Ever since 2021 began, fashion lovers have been hitting the refresh button and embracing the energy the start of a new year brings. Fashionastas have been silently competing with one another in coming up with a collection of sunglasses in different shapes, colours and sizes.

Opticians have also taken the niche to offer spectacles in the trending shapes and abandoned the traditional boring type of spectacles. Gone are the days when the spectacles only served as a medical device. Today they have adopted another role which is none other than fashion.

Vintage sunglasses have been a defining fashion style feature among modern eyewear design for the past decades.

While advances in material, colours and lens development are shifting and improving, the face remains relatively unchanged and with that, the familiar phrase, “a classic never goes out of style” becomes increasingly relevant.

Essentially, the design aesthetic of vintage sunglasses, the aviator, cat-eye, wayfarer, still look good today as much as they did 10 years ago.

Nowadays, one can never tell if someone is wearing fashionable glasses or spectacles. For the first time in decades, people who wear spectacles have ceased the label “nerds”.

While technology is booming and making life easier in many ways, a sense of the past is always present. Thus, before we dive into today’s trend, a brief flashback on the history of oversized sunglasses would be very much relevant.

Flora Manjengwa

Oversized sunglasses first became popular in the 1960s when women purchased them to mimic the ones first won by a celebrity called Jacqueline Kenedy Onassis. Sunglasses actually date further in history, they were originally developed for pilots, however, they quickly became popular among Hollywood stars like Marilyn Monroe and James Dean.

The first sunglasses comprised of flat panes of smoky quartz and were used to protect eyes from the sun rays.

The 20th century is when the use of glasses really took off when Sam Foster, an American designer, began mass-producing sunglasses for the American public and from then, many companies are said to have flourished by simply making sunglasses.

They have recently made a comeback in the 21st century and their popularity is largely due to fashionistas like Paris Hilton.

Thus, it is pretty safe to say that public figures, fashion influencers and trends throughout history have strongly shaped the eyewear industry today. These factors are blissfully united and really feed off each other to cultivate new statement-making styles that become adopted by society as a whole.

This, in conjunction with iconic public figures wearing celebrity sunglasses that become craved by others, all play a substantial role in why eyewear has manifested so well, really withstanding the test of time.

Celebrities, public figures and influencers play a vital role in society. They are role models, featured continuously in the public, and rooted driving factors in why fashion has evolved as much as it has.

A perfect example not far from home is Bonang Matheba from neighbouring South Africa. Bonang can be safely called an influencer, the reason being that she has many people or rather fans looking up to her to find fashion or other inspirations.

Trust me when I say if Bonang Matheba wears tiny little glasses that only cover the apple of the eye, it can be natural for people to want to wear that style too no matter how odd it may seem.

When celebrity glasses are being promoted, there is bound to be a skyrocket in that particular style, so are sunglasses. So whether your choice of wearing sunglasses is because of fashion or simply a choice to protect your eyes, make sure you get the perfect shape that suits your face type.

They come in round frames, heart-shaped, tortoiseshell frames, thin wire-rim, aviators, rectangular shaped and diamond frames. With these wide choices, no one is left without their perfect match.

Bulawayo has not been exempted from this wave of fashion turnover. Everyone, no gender barriers and age restrictions as generally everyone has been rocking sunglasses this year.

Velda Musengeyi, a 23-year-old sunglasses fanatic said she has a collection of different shades and a wide range of colours.

“I recently fell in love with the new trending shapes in shades. I love how they cover the face especially with your mask on, you get to look good at the same time protecting yourself from the heat.

My love for glasses grows every day so I’ve been buying different frames and colours because I’ve discovered that some shades may look good with jeans, but may not look good with your summer dress. So I buy different types so as to cover that niche.

I’ve been a fan of sunglasses dating back as far as primary school, but never like this year have I purchased them this much. My inspiration comes from celebrities, I go along with the trends, I don’t follow them,” Musengeyi said.
Flora Manjengwa said she got pressure from social media.

“I started seeing celebrities wearing these colourful wide glasses and in just a blink of an eye, everyone had adopted the trend.

It quite surprised me how the whole thing spread so fast on my watch.

Social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram have been bombarded with people wearing these sunglasses.

Online entrepreneurs have recently been recording brisk business as there is high demand.

“Personally, I’m into the colourful glasses because they glow up my face giving me an attractive look. I look good in them and I also like the fact that they turn people’s heads. Everywhere I go, I grab attention, they announce my presence.

“I urge people to get theirs today if they haven’t done so because if you look good, you feel good,” said Manjengwa. – @SeehYvonne

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