Everyone With Good Taste Will Be Wearing a Pair of These Sunglasses This Summer

It’s often said that wearing sunglasses in Britain can be somewhat performative—after all, the sun is rarely bright enough to demand protection. Whilst I’d contend that this is incorrect, anyone with a sense of style would know that sunglasses are more of a state of mind anyway.

Like a great designer bag or pair of shoes, this accessory helps tie a look together like a metal-framed bow. "I don’t ever leave the house or a hotel without a pair of sunglasses," confessed Kendall Jenner in a 2023 video chronicling a week of her life in looks. "I just feel safe behind them," she revealed.

Admittedly, sunglasses do give a bit of privacy and act as a sort of optical armour, which explains why celebrities are never spotted without them. But for those of us who aren't constantly hounded by paparazzi and don’t live in a climate where they’re a year-round necessity, sunglasses are still worthy of a place in our wardrobes. Depending on the shape, lens colour and finish, the right pair of shades can completely transform your look. Yes, they can become an inextricable part of your identity à la Joan Didion and her Celine Triomphe oval sunglasses, but they also serve to lean into whatever story you’re trying to tell with your outfit.

This year, the resounding message from the biggest sunglasses trends for 2025 is a sense of nostalgia. The styles of note aren’t new by any means, but rather modern renditions of vintage shapes like 1960s round sunglasses, '70s retrofuturism, '80s-style aviator designs and late-'90s-to-early '00s skinny metal frames. But, as is sometimes the case with fashion, you have to go backwards to go forward.

Ahead, find the six defining sunglasses trends of 2025 and the best styles to shop.

The 6 Biggest Sunglasses Trends of 2025

1. Heavy Metal and Reflective

Style Notes: Keanu Reeves might’ve popularised rimless sunglasses with The Matrix, but this trend takes cues from other stars of the decade like Gwyneth Paltrow, Lisa Bonet and the then-young Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen in 1998’s Billboard Dad. Though this trend was in fashion nearly 30 years ago, the sentiment remains the same. Look for luxe metals like gold and silver that sit closely next to oval-shaped lenses in a thin rim. On the runway, Tory Burch made the most compelling case for this trend in her uptown-meets-downtown autumn/winter 2025 presentation at New York Fashion Week. Across the Atlantic in Paris, Laura Harrier dressed down the trend with a pink Miu Miu satin miniskirt set.

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2. "Sharon Tate" Shades

Style Notes: Do not adjust your screen. You’re not seeing unreleased costume pictures of Margot Robbie from the set of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, but bearing witness to arguably the most influential sunglasses trend of 2025. I’ve dubbed this look "Sharon Tate Shades" in honour of the late actress's iconic big, rounded sunglasses, but I’ve already started noticing them on the likes of Sienna Miller after making a comeback on Chloé’s spring/summer 2025 runway. High-street brands have picked up on the trend too, with affordable iterations already available for purchase at H&M, Mango and Zara. Turns out, at least when it comes to sunglasses, bigger is better.

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3. Cutting Shapes

Style Notes: Taking you back to primary school maths classes, fashion has found a sense of youthful playfulness with this sunglasses trend. Oversized, bug-eyed shapes are now formatted into unique shapes like oblong diamonds designed to cover the entire length of your face’s mid-section. The most popular style is the amethyst-lens sunglasses that debuted on Prada’s S/S 2025 runway. Styled with a scarf and drawing inspiration from the '60s, the effect was as if Jeff Goldblum in The Fly met Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's.

According to luxury fashion sourcer Gab Waller, it’s this exact Prada style that she’s had the most requests for. Well-versed in selling the likes of old Celine to Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Jonathan Anderson’s Loewe to Hailey Bieber, Waller explains that the Prada scarf sunglasses have been "very popular in my DMs."

"Most recently, I sourced them for Lori Harvey to wear to Coachella, and since then, a number of requests have come through," she reveals. As for what makes this style so captivating? "It was just a unique take on the classics in a way that pushed the envelope for what we are used to seeing. That’s what really drove interest."

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4. Alley Cat

Style Notes: In Waller’s eyes, however, the top sunglassed trend for 2025 is yet to reveal itself. "When it comes to the sunglasses I predict will be big for summer, my mind immediately goes to Chanel," she explains. "Every season, guaranteed, Chanel will release a sunglasses style that will pop off. It has not happened yet, but give it time."

And, on the heels of my conversation with Waller, Chanel's Coco Beach and Cruise 2026 collections proved her predictions true. As displayed along the edge of Lake Como, the Maison showcased a range of more abstract cat-eye styles elongated at the outermost top corner. These softer frames are a more subtle take on the trend and are so complementary to oval, heart and diamond face shapes. Just look at Mikey Madison (pictured below) for proof.

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5. Librarian Siren

Style Notes: After Miu Miu dropped the most covetable and disruptive pair of optical frames to ever hit stores in its autumn/winter 2023 collection, our appetite for oval-framed, tortoiseshell glasses was at an all-time high. Now, this librarian look is getting a little sleazier (in a good way). Rather than appearing too prim and collegiate like something lifted from the pages of Donna Tartt’s A Secret History, the "librarian siren" sunglasses trend is a little more vampy, like the faux reading glasses you might’ve worn to university in the 2010s. Think wayfarer shapes, light lenses and an aptitude for intellect.

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6. Cloud Nine

Style Notes: Fans of the classics will be delighted to know that aviator frames aren’t going anywhere this year. Instead, they’ve been given a little upgrade with sleek curved edges to rival the curves lines of the aeroplanes this style is named after. From Saint Laurent to Christopher Esber and Tom Ford, choose a pair and wear them with a leather jacket and straight-leg jeans, and prepare for lift off.

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Meet the Experts

Gab Waller

Gab Waller is an Australian entrepreneur whose fashion sourcing service has positioned her on speed dial for celebrity clients and fashion fanatics around the world.

On the back of a fulfilled request for a Celine coat for Rosie Huntington-Whiteley that swept Instagram by storm, all eyes were suddenly on Gab as fashion's best-kept secret. Since then, she has been featured in print issues of Vogue Australia, Elle and Harper’s Bazaar, with additional coverage in Forbes, Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, WWD and Vogue. In 2023, Gab became a contributor for Vogue America, with a monthly column titled The Hot List: 20 Must-Have Pieces, According to Instagram’s Favourite Fashion Sourcer.

Currently, Gab resides in Los Angeles and services a growing roster of global clients including Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Hailey Bieber, Lori Harvey, Khloé Kardashian, Sofia Richie Grainge, Sabrina Elba, Hilary Duff and Behati Prinsloo Levine.