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What
shape is your face?
No, we're not asking if your skin
is oily or dry, blemished or smooth. We're asking
what shape your whole face creates. Who cares? You
should, if you want to look your best.
The
face of your shape determines what kinds of eyeglass frames
will suit you best, and even what kinds of hats or other
accessories will help you look fantastic
(but that's a subject for another day.) Above you
can see the most common face shapes. Each has its
distinct characteristics, and you can do a lot to optimize
it. Check out the shapes below to see how the
guidelines change the face shape through good eyewear selection.
Oval
-- The most pleasing shape, since it's evenly balanced.
Cheeks are slightly wider than forehead or chin areas, and
cheekbones are generally high. Optimizing:
Since this is a well-balanced shape, you
don't want to do anything to unbalance it.
Look for eyeglass frames that are not wider than cheeks,
and that don't over-emphasize your eye area with heavy coloring
or styling.
Round
-- If you have a round face, you know it! Your
cheek area is rounded, your chin forms a broad "U" shape,
and your forehead is also rounded.
Optimizing: You want to trick
the person looking at you into thinking you have a more
oval face, so you want to make
your face appear longer and narrower, using dramatic glass
frames -- especially those with high temples or detailing
in that area. Having the bows of your
glasses attach at mid-height or high on the sides of the
lenses will make your profile look longer. Stay away from
rounded shapes since they just repeat what you have.
Contrasting shapes will break up the roundness.
Square --
Generally a short face, angular and evenly wide from top
to bottom. Chin and brow are equally wide.
Optimizing: You need
to break up the box formed by a square face by inserting
some different shapes. Look
for frames that have emphasis at the top, and perhaps
some cut-away styling at the bottom, to
form a visual break in the angularity of your face.
Triangular
-- This face has a narrow brow, but a wide jawline.
Optimizing: You want to balance
the width of your jaw with glasses that extend out a bit
from the width of the top of your face. Look
for something that is not square across the bottom, but
angular. Keep the focal point of the
frame styling up above your eyes.
Heart-shaped
(also known as Inverted Triangle) -- You
have the most difficult shape of face to dress properly.
Your brow and cheek regions are wide, but your chin is narrow.
Optimizing: The hard part about this
kind of face is that the very area where your glasses go
is the area you want to emphasize less from a width standpoint.
Get frames
that do not extend beyond the sides of your face, and with
the decorative or color weight at the bottom area of the
frame. This will bring the
apparent weight of the frame down, and help to balance your
face.
Diamond
-- This is the rarest facial shape, with narrow brow and
chin areas, but wide cheeks. Optimizing:
You want to widen your eye area gently with rounded
lens shapes and even invisible frames (or frames with slight
weight above eye level.)
Rectangular
-- This is a long, angular face, often with a long nose
as well. Optimizing:
The goal here is to break up the harsh angularity
of this shape by adding other shapes and "breaks" for the
person looking at you, fooling them into not seeing the
rectangle but smaller shapes instead. Look
for rounded lenses, and lower bridge (to shorten the nose).
Contrasting details on the temples or more visual weight
at the top, lightening toward the bottom,
will help break the rectangle into more pleasing sections.
Learn More: Check out further
style tips, as well as the latest in active eyewear, jazzy
styles and lens options by
visiting this site. |
