Interview With Fashion and Style Expert

Amy Cafazzo is the fashion and style expert for Marshalls. Her job involves covering all aspects of designer and home fashions…including sunglasses! I had the opportunity to ask her questions about something that is on everyone’s mind, looking good in your shades and tips on buying sunglasses.

The first thing everyone wants to know is how to pick out the perfect pair of sunglasses. The secret to choosing sunglasses is analyzing on the shape of your face, your coloring, and fit.

Amy prepared an easy-to-follow guide to help you stay in fashion while protecting your eyes.

Everyone’s face is unique, but there are four basic shapes. Use the following guide to help you find the perfect pair:

• Oval: Almost any shape frame will work with an oval face. Just be sure to make sure that the glasses are wider than your face.
• Oblong: Choose oval or oblong shaped frames, anything with a strong horizontal feel – this will shorten the face.
• Round: To offset the fullness of this facial shape, try frames that are longer than they are wide, like ovals or cat eyes.
• Heart Shaped: Try oval or butterfly shaped frames. This will soften the angles of these faces.

Just like in clothes, look for sunglasses in colors that look good on you. However, if you’ve got a light complexion, go for a softer color. For example, blondes often look good in black, but black frames may be too overpowering for their fair skin and hair.

• Glasses should not be too tight or too loose
• Avoid any glasses that pinch your head
• Your eye should fall in the middle or top third of the lens

• Long nose – Try a low bridge to shorten its appearance
• Small nose – Try a high bridge to lengthen the nose
• Wide nose – Try a dark, simple bridge
• Close eyes – Try a clear bridge…avoid large frames
• Wide eyes – Try a dark bridge with large frames

• The Aviator – Men and women alike can rock this traditional style. Many styles are unisex, but they do sell some smaller ones for women’s faces.
• The Jacky-O – Oversized glasses are all the rage. Try to find some that don’t overpower your face, these are harder to pull off. You’d be surprised how small glasses can be and still achieve this look.

Amy continued to offer great insight to what to look for while picking out sunglasses.

What do you look for when picking out a pair of sunglasses?

First and foremost, UV protection. Fashion is a close second, but the primary function of sunglasses must always be to protect our eyes! After all, it's hard to look fashionable if you have wrinkles from squinting.

After that, I look at facial shape. Large glasses are all the rage, but you don't want them to completely overpower your face. When in doubt, bring a friend who can give you an opinion on whether those round glasses do justice to your beautiful heart-shaped face.

How important is price in choosing a pair of sunglasses?

I have a Marshalls mentality through and through so when I look for sunglasses, I'm after a designer pair with an off-price. I just don't see any reason to pay more than $25 for a pair of sunglasses.

How important is name brand?

Very. There's nothing more exciting than finding a pair of really fashionable designer glasses at a great price.

What tips can you offer for purchasing affordable sunglasses? Can you get away with Target or WalMart?

Keep in mind that at those stores when you buy a pair of $20 sunglasses, those glasses were made to be $20. At an off-price store like Marshalls, you can get designer merchandise that was meant to sell for around $40. Marshalls can do that because of our relationship with vendors, the sheer number of stores we have (more than 750), and the simple fact that because we don't restrict ourselves to carrying all the same merchandise in every store, our buyers don't have to pass up a phenomenal deal if there are only 100 pairs of glasses, for example, available.

Any quick tips on taking care of your sunglasses so they will last?

Buy a great case that matches your handbag. I've lost too many sunglasses to scratches from being shoved into my purse unprotected!

Special thanks to Janelle Nicolo for setting up the interview.

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