The aviator was made for pilots. In the 1930s Bausch & Lomb worked with the American pilot John Macready on glasses that would cut glare at altitude without fogging like the old flight goggles, and the green lensed version was sold to the public from 1937 before it became the Ray-Ban Aviator. The teardrop shape is there so a pilot could still look down at the instrument panel.

 

That shape is why aviators suit almost everyone: the lens is deepest where the cheekbone is widest. The first group mixes true aviators, Tom Ford's Mackenzie, Veronica Beard's Icon and Joseph's Atlas, with a few other shapes to compare them against, like Casablanca's Lime Spiral, A.P.C.'s Lou, Kenneth Cole's square frame and Heaven Mayhem's Vesper. Gucci's GG2223O, Chloé's CH0347S and Saint Laurent's SL 545 add three more true teardrops, and AIRE's Aquarius is the easy pair of aviator sunglasses to try first.

What decides an aviator is frame width, lens depth and how the bridge sits on your nose. Frame width should match the widest part of your face, not your eye spacing, and a deeper lens covers more of the cheek, which reads more seventies.

 

In the second group, Saint Laurent's metal aviator and Veronica Beard's Flare are the classic thin wire shapes, Elli Parr's Louie is a little softer, and the LoveShackFancy x KREWE STL II, Joseph's Souk cat eye and Kimeze's Zawe II are there for contrast. Wild Oak Boutique's Can't Be Outdone and Camera Ready are the easy everyday pairs.

Aviators are the accessory people see first, so let them lead. With a white shirt, jeans and one gold piece of jewelry, a gold wire frame looks deliberate; with black tailoring, a darker acetate aviator like the Khaite x Oliver Peoples 1977C reads sharper.

 

Veronica Beard's Sally is the other aviator in the third group, Quay's High Key, All In and Day One and rag & bone's green horn pair add gold wire and acetate options, and the Kai square and Joseph's Bahia oval show how much softer a frame gets once the teardrop goes. What I would skip: an aviator wider than your face. If the frame sticks out past your temples, go down a size.

Ray-Ban's 58mm aviator is the closest thing here to the 1937 original, and it is the one to measure everything else against. Tom Ford's Parker and Anthony keep the thin metal line, and Saint Laurent's acetate aviator is the heavier, flatter version.

 

Bottega Veneta, Fendi, Prada, Chloé and Bvlgari give the aviator a few more shapes, from thin metal to chunkier acetate. I try them on with my hair up and down, since that changes how the bridge sits.

If I were buying one pair, it would be a thin gold metal aviator with a green or brown lens, the shape closest to the 1937 original. It works with a swimsuit and with a coat, and it never looks like it is trying too hard.

 

After that, add a second pair in acetate or a bolder color, like one of the Bottega Veneta or Fendi frames above. Two pairs cover nearly everything, and a scratched lens is the one thing worth replacing early.