What is about the sunglasses make you look cool

Jessica Huong - Aug 04th 2021

What is it about sunglasses that makes you look cool?

First of all, I have to admit that I am not neighter the doctor of Ergonomic nor the Key opinion leader of Fashion style. But I have been addicting to Sunglasses for many years. I have a theory that I came up with after observing how my own mindset and body language changes when I'm wearing sunglasses.

Smile is the key of your appearance.

When you're happy, you smile. That's pretty obvious, less obvious though is that this also works in reverse, smiling will make you feel happy. This works with any emotion. The emotion will induce certain body language, body language will induce the related emotion.

Ok so what does this have to do with sunglasses?

When I'm walking down the street without sunglasses on, my head is lowered and my face is sort of scrunched up and squinty. When I'm wearing sunglasses I don't need to hide away from the sun, my head lifts and my face relaxes. My body language has instantly changed from a reserved, inward state to one of someone confident and relaxed.

This body language makes you feel good, confident, cool, which in turn amplifies your body language even further. From an outside point of view, you look like someone who's got their together, hence you look pretty cool. Try lowering your head and squinting right now and then open up. You'll feel the difference.

There's also the fact that most people think they look cool in sunglasses so act it when they are wearing them. Perception is reality.

The feeling of anonymity makes people cool.

An experiment at the University of Toronto asked participants to divide up $6 any way they chose between themselves and an unseen participant in another room.

Subjects who wore sunglasses were less generous – giving away a dollar less on average than those who didn't.

The researchers hypothesize that wearing shades contributes to a feeling of anonymity that makes people less accountable. Sunglasses hide important social cues – creating that sense of mystery mentioned above, and this sense makes people cool.

Sunglasses Can Make Your Face More Symmetrical

You've probably heard that handsomeness is more or less a function of facial symmetry. Humans find order aesthetically pleasing, and a face whose two sides are very uniform has a natural appeal.

Of course, no human being's face is perfectly symmetrical. But most of the asymmetry is actually concentrated close to the eyes. So covering this area – say with a pair of sunglasses – can give you an edge in the looks department, at least at first glance.