Name: Dinner plate sunnies.
Age: People have been protecting their eyes from the sun’s harmful rays for yonks. Inuits made slitted goggles from flattened walrus ivory, the Chinese developed smoked glass to reduce glare in – or before – the 12th century and Louis XIV watched the 1706 solar eclipse through a telescope with a filter.
And he was the actual Sun King. Yes, he was. But Jackie Onassis can certainly take a lot of credit for popularising really big sunnies in the 1960s. Audrey Hepburn and Miles Davis too, then Elton John in the 70s, and in this century, you’ve got Lady Gaga …
I’m thinking oversize sunglasses are cool again 😎? They are.
Hang on, didn’t I read the other day that it’s all about tiny sunglasses now? The other year more like. You’re probably thinking about a piece in the style bible Vogue last August declaring it to be all about small (though not tiny) sunglasses.
And things have moved on? Fashion does that, I’m afraid – it’s a fickle business. This year when it comes to sunglasses, it’s all about big.
Says who? Writing in British Vogue, Julia Hobbs says: “In an era of oversharing, they bestow the advantage of Didionesque remove, meaning the wearer can read everyone else and yet not be read herself.”
… or possibly Wintouresque, no? True, Vogue is famously edited by a woman in big sunglasses (Chanel). They help her maintain a terrifying, inscrutable aura, while seated in the front row. But this is more about what was going on on the actual runway. And oversize sunglasses were a big fixture of the spring/summer 2025 shows.
Just how big are we talking? We’re talking dinner plates. “For me, the dream ratio is the glass should touch the top of the brow and finish level with the bottom of your nose,” Fiona Hartley told Vogue.
Fiona Hartley, just remind me … Fashion consultant. She calls them “9pm to 9am sunglasses.”
Why? Erm, not sure actually. Maybe because it’s as if it’s always night-time behind them. Or that’s when you should be wearing them.
On which runways were these huge sunnies spotted? Aaron Esh (partner of Fiona Hartley as it happens), Dior, Prada. Though Prada’s offering was more of a straw visor than sunnies in the traditional sense …
Whoa! It’s definitely big, but is it sunglasses? I’m getting more alien/cyclops/Worzel Gummidge. And it costs £1,800, so you’d better start saving.
Do say: “God, 2025 is so awful, I’m going to disappear behind these until it’s over.”
Don’t say: “How big should your sunglasses be? It’s a polarising issue.”
