Why Is Everyone Suddenly Wearing Their Sunglasses Like This?

You may change up your accessories on the regular, but chances are you’re going to wear your rings on the same fingers and your watch on the same wrist. Because once you find an orientation that looks and feels right, why mess with it? Sunglasses are unique in this sense. Depending on which side of the street you’re walking on, you’ll likely move your sunglasses from your face to your shirt pocket or hang them from your collar. If you’re neurotic, you’ll even put them back in the case. Sunglasses are a nomadic accessory, and what has become clear to me in recent months is that they’ve moved on from their usual haunts to other parts of the body. Rather than defaulting to a pocket or a collar, the coolest brands and most stylish guys are instead flipping their shades up on top of their heads like the visor on a motorcycle helmet.It likely started from practicality. For guys with long hair, sunglasses can be a handy way to hold their lengthy locks back and out of their faces. That was true for Sage Toda-Nation, designer of the eponymous label Sage Nation and the UK-based fashion brand YMC. “I think it started because, when I had long hair, I would do it to keep my hair back, like a headband,” he says. “And it also kind of just looks cool.” Toda-Nation started buzzing his head about two years ago, but says he still wears his sunglasses on his dome out of habit and convenience. (“It also means I don’t lose them,” he adds.) Why not just use the protective case that comes with most every pair of sunglasses? Toda-Nation points out that most cases are simply too bulky to stash in a pocket, which then necessitates carrying a bag. What starts as a small styling accessory can snowball into a more cumbersome affair. On the head, sunglasses are easily accessible and protected from getting crushed or scratched by your keys in a pocket.Courtesy of Sage Toda-NationCourtesy of Jackie McKeownPracticality aside, Literary Sport creative director Jackie McKeown often styles models with sunglasses as a headband or worn atop a beanie to add depth to an outfit that might otherwise feel flat. “I think it keeps the fit intact in a certain way, like when you are sitting in a bar, and you have to take off the glasses. It allows them to still be part of the outfit without being on your face,” she says. “It feels reminiscent of old hiking references, or skiing, where you're just putting a goggle up on your helmet.”The sunglass play doesn’t stop there. Men are also styling their shades resting across the bill of their ball caps, backwoods style, as Jeremy Dufrene, Lana Del Rey’s fanboat-driving husband, did at Paris Fashion Week. Sunglasses are being worn backward, styled with Croakies (a.k.a. those neoprene straps favored by powerboaters) hanging from the neck, or even dangling from a belt loop. “It’s become this interesting thing where you just strap them to you as an accessory on its own,” McKeown says. “Whether they're on your face or not, it’s this other kind of addition to the look.”More than just shielding your eyes from the sun, sunglasses have become another piece of jewelry, with all the potential for stylish experimentation that entails. There may not be a “right” way to wear them (aside from on your face, naturally), but the wrong way seems obvious to those in the know. Toda-Nation put it bluntly: “There’s something about putting it on your T-shirt that looks a bit shit.”