70s back to summer eyewear

This summer eyewear brands are placing their bet on mid-sized sunglasses with specific designing on the rims giving them the 70's look flaunted by the likes of yesteryear actor Zeenat Aman in "Dum Maro Dum."

Mid-sized rims seem to be drawing attention more than the others. Rims in red, white and yellow, some embossed with crystals, some with pointy edges, some with butterfly or cupid motif on the arms, are instant h.

"The entire experimentation is focused on the girls' range of glares. Those standard black glasses with both small and over size rims have already bid a goodbye. Women collection is more about colour and embellishments," says Simran, marketing head of Fastrack, which has launched its latest collection of shades.

For women, material of the shades is not that important...shape and colours matter more," says Raunak Seth, Director of Eternity Lifestyles which has been into the retailing of eyewear from past 30 years.

Rose pink is a hot favourite pick amongst the college going young women. Moreover the material has also undergone a transformation for both men and women," adds Seth who has launched a retro look of shades for this season.

Curved and rounded shaped glares in acetate are the bestsellers. But for men, metal aviators still rule the roost," opines Seth.

"For men, fashion is slowly shifting from aviators to wayfarers. Adding colours in a small space like black with yellow, black with red, black with white is in," adds Seth.

Who else can show off better than our very own style icon, Bollywood Saif Ali Khan whose glares are often custom made. His pair of shades with a thin red rim are to die for.

Besides this, Wayfarers are back in style with MTV jockey Raghuram flaunting them in the current season of reality show 'Roadies'.

"Wayfarers which were the trend setters for 1950s are back to be the style this summer season. Aviators, though are still the hot favourite among men," adds Simran.

Salil Chaturvedi of Provogue eyewear says, "It's exciting to see people experimenting with sunglasses. No one's playing safe by going the regular cliched way. Sunglasses are a reflection of one's attitude and so the shape, size and colour are completely out-of-the-box, yet very wearable."

Nobody wears it better than our own Bollywood. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra, Preity Zinta, Kangna Ranaut are the torch bearers when it comes to showcase the latest fashion.

Giving a thumb-ups to Aishwarya's white rimmed shades of Action Replay,Simran says "White rims are really in. In fact, coloured rims like red and amber are fast catching up.