With my sunglasses on, I'm Jack Nicholson. Without them I'm fat and 60. Now I don't know about you,
but I think I would still recognize Jack without his sunglasses. That being said,
his point is this sunglasses can turn most outfits around. Now I paraphrased Victoria
there cause I'm not gonna recommend heels for the majority of you guys.
Although the right pair of boots can do wonders. But gents, the right pair of sunglasses,
it can make or break an outfit. And the style of sunglasses that have been synonymous with
cool for almost a hundred years, the classic and timeless aviator. Now, what exactly are aviator
sunglasses? So the first key distinguishing feature is gonna be the shape of the lens.
The classic styles we're gonna see a tear dropped shape that fills the
eye socket. As for the frame, it's usually made with. A thin metal,
it's gonna have a double, sometimes a triple bridge, a minimalist adjustable nose pad,
and a bayonet style earpiece or adjustable metal band that fits around the ears.
Oh, and the classic styles are made to be worn under headgear. Now that seems pretty simple,
right? But if that's the case, Then why are aviators so damn stylish? Seriously,
if a guy asked me what one pair of sunglasses would I recommend for him to wear to look better,
it's gonna be aviators a chance. As you know, there's a wide variety of different
styles of sunglasses out there, Wayfairs Club Masters, sporty Sunglasses, and every
season we see new trends, new styles popping up, but aviators for almost a hundred years.
These have been the epitome of Cool. From Mick Jagger to Robert Redford,
to Warren Beatty, Michael B. Jordan, Charu Khan, Tom Cruise, Pappy Boyington,
Lenny Kravitz. When it comes to looking cool and functionality doesn't matter if
you're a musician, if you're a World War II pilot, aviator sunglasses, or where it's at.
Now, before I lay out the five reasons of why Aviator sunglasses are so damn stylish,
let's talk about their history. So aviator sunglasses. Were first
developed in 1936. There were some prototypes before that,
but it was 36 that they got them out there to the pilots in the United States Army Air Corps.
Now, the company Bok developed them cuz at high altitudes, pilots were having trouble seeing. The
idea is to have. Protective eyewear that could protect them from the UV race. Now, in 1937,
they started selling to the general public again. They're going after aviators. They're
going after sportsmen, people that wanted to be able to see in adverse conditions.
So if anyone's ever been fishing, you know that actually having polarized sunglasses, you're
gonna be able to see through the water and be able to better see the fish. They had green versions,
the G fifteens. They also had brown lens versions, the B fifteens. Now, as you can imagine, for many
military contractors, Once World War II picked up, all of a sudden production levels skyrocketed.
So from 1940 to 1945, we had millions and millions of pairs of sunglasses produced by Bos Shalom for
the United States Army Corps. Now, despite the fact that they were made specifically for pilots,
anyone that served in the military knows that things get traded, things get passed around,
things disappear in the military, and all of a sudden you had other people.
In the army picking up these sunglasses, Navy pilots talking about this,
them going around on boats. And next thing you know, on the cover of Time Magazine,
we've got General Douglas MacArthur retaking the Philippines. And guess what? He has right
there on his face. A pair of sunglasses. Now, how did he acquire those sunglasses?
Who knows? But it did all a sudden affect sales all of a sudden. Everybody wanted to be
like this war hero. Now, eventually, MacArthur would disappear from the limelight. You know,
Eisenhower made sure that you had bring him in bounds. But 1950s,
1960s, we started seeing musicians pick up where the military had left off.
During this time period, we see iconic trendsetters like Elvis Presley,
Marlon Brando. In the Beatles wearing aviator sunglasses. In fact, the king,
Elvis Presley had a huge collection of sunglasses. Most of 'em, aviators. The
guy just went and he just started getting these things all decked out. A lot of 'em custom made.
But when people see their favorite musicians, Wearing in these glasses. Other people wanted
'em. Again, it kept driving up sales and they started to enter the masses. It just wasn't
for military enthusiasts. It wasn't just for people that like musicians. All of a sudden,
the average person started discovering the benefits of wearing sunglasses.
In the 1970s. We saw the rise of a number of new manufacturers. Initially it was just Ray Ban,
but eventually Carrera, Sarah Gti and Randolph Engineering all entered the market, and this was
really a great thing because all of a sudden they started introducing new materials, new builds. New
styles now. For a few years, things were cool, but in 1986, the movie Top Gun was released.
Tom Cruise wearing a pair of Ray Bands. Ray Bands reported that their sales shot
up by 40% solely because of the placement in that movie. Now, as we entered the nineties,
the fashion industry looking for more ways to monetize and to bring a little bit of bling to
things started grabbing. Aviators and houses like Gucci, Georgia, Armani and Ralph Floren started
incorporating variations of aviator sunglasses with all types of bling into their runway shows.
And this continued into the two thousands. Again, Gucci's leading the way here,
but Dolche, Gabbana, Prada, all of them started jumping in cause they realized,
hey, I can take these, they don't cost that much, and we can knock up the price and
people will be crazy enough to buy them. And again, as more manufacturers get into this,
all of a sudden we see mirrored lenses, gradient lenses, various types of specialty
lenses even for sportsmen, all of a sudden start popping on the market.
And in the last 15 years, we've seen the rise of the influencer, not just on social media,
but also guys like Kanye West, David Beckham, Tom Hardy, all of these guys. Love their aviators,
and so this draws in guys that want to dress like them. Now,
earlier in the video I talked about specifically what are aviators in general.
This is a classic pair of aviators, but you're also gonna see different shapes of lenses. Now,
the teardrop is the original because as I mentioned earlier,
it actually fits right there in the eye socket. Remember, they were originally
developed for protection of the eyes. From uv, harmful UV race at a high altitude.
But over the last 50 years, we've seen a wide range. We've seen the lenses squared up. We've
seen them slightly become a bit larger. Other ones become smaller in general,
because most of you guys aren't using for the functional purpose of flying at a high
altitude to protect your vision, you're gonna see different options out there.
And I would say all of these fall within the. Aviator realm. You're also gonna see different
colors of lenses. I've got a graphic right here that breaks out all the different colors and
the uses and the purposes, which I will link to down in the description of today's video.
That breaks out all the different types of sunglasses and information on that.
But in general, if you're buying sunglasses from a reputable seller, they're gonna be able to. Check
your eyes from the harmful UV rays. Now, some of you guys may be asking, well, what about polarized
sunglasses? Should I always get those or are non-polarized? Okay. Now, polarization is where
they treat the lens with a chemical that's gonna prevent light rays from coming at certain angles.
So again, if you're an angler, if you're out there fishing and you wanna be able
to see in the water, polarized lenses are gonna be great. However, for day-to-day use,
I'm not gonna recommend them because it makes it difficult to read. L e D screens. And when
it comes to UV protection, they don't really add too much and they can scratch easier.
Now, what about mirrored lenses? To me, this is simply a stylistic choice. Mirror lenses I find,
in general, are easier to scratch, but they do have that cool factor. People are gonna
see themselves a better hides the eyes, but gradient style and you know, just simply dark
sunglasses in different colors. Um, Yeah, really depends on what you're looking for.
And really quick, let's talk about the width of the sunglasses. You're gonna see three
main sizes out there. You're gonna see small, which range from about 52 to 55 millimeters
in width. You're gonna see mediums which range from about 55 to 58 millimeters in width. And
then large frame sunglasses are gonna be anything over at 58 millimeters in width.
So when it comes to choosing a size, know the size of your face. But in general,
if you think about like a bell curve, the majority of men are gonna fit
right in there. With the medium size and specifically on the lens shapes. Again,
we're gonna see the classic teardrop. You're also gonna see what's known as the navigator.
So the navigator is gonna be like the classic teardrop, except it's gonna be squared off at
the edges. You're also gonna see a sporty wrap, and this is gonna wrap around the face a bit more,
a little bit harder to find, but I like it, especially if you're gonna be wearing
aviators when you're out cycling, if you're out running if you want something, and they're
usually made from a lighter material, again, made specifically for sport.
Hi Jens. Really quick. Question for you. What is your style score? Jenz,
if you don't know your style score, how do you know how to improve your style? Well,
Jenz, I've got you covered down in the description of today's video. I'm Lincoln
over to our free style score quiz at Real Mid Real Style. There's absolutely no cost to you,
and you're able to quickly figure out where do you want to improve your style?
Where are you doing good? And we give you an exact
number with feedback on how to do it. Just go over to Realman Real Style,
my website. You're gonna find tons of useful infographics articles that go into a lot more
detail than I can cover in these videos. So if you just want free information, good stuff.
Go check out what we're doing at Realman Real Style and use that link to go find out what
your style score is. Now at this point, Jens, let's get into it exactly. Why are
aviators so damn stylish? First up, that timeless design, when you go look at the original specs,
the original. Aviators, they are very similar to what is being sold today.
In fact, if you were to find a pair of vintage aviators, you could wear them
and they would still look great. And that's why I love them because you can spend good
money on a good pair of aviators and you don't have to worry. This is a timeless design that
will still be in style in a decade. In fact, a quick note that's called the Lindy Effect.
You look at how long something has been. In circulation. That kind of
gives you an idea of how long it's gonna be in circulation going forward. So the
fact that we're coming in on a hundred years of aviators tells me that, yeah,
these sunglasses are gonna be around for another a hundred. Next up, let's talk about versatility.
So you see men that appreciate the functionality, pilots all over the world still wear and love
their aviators. They got particular brands. And if you've got a particular brand,
I would love to hear it down in the comments. Your favorite aviator sunglasses,
where do you get 'em from? But uh, these guys did appreciate functionality.
They focus in 'em. But guys that simply wanna look cool, that wanna look good,
musicians, actors, rock stars, just people that are just out on a hot day wanting to look good,
aviators fit the bill. You can dress 'em up, you can dress 'em down. You can wear 'em in a wide
variety of situations. It's the versatility of aviator sunglasses that make them so damn stylish.
Next up, we've got the connection to iconic figures. So many of us look for inspiration.
To the past, and we look at maybe a musician, a rockstar, a historical figure, and we're like,
you know what? I want to dress, I wanna look like that. So when you see a picture of Chuck Yeager,
the guy that broke the sound barrier, a ma just a legend in the Air Force.
You see him wearing a pair of aviators, well,
I want a pair. Right? Or maybe you're a Leonardo DiCaprio fan, you love his movies,
you love the way the guy looks in aviators. You wanna be able to rock them. Cuz we all know
that's why he gets those girls that, uh, yeah, his last girlfriend just hasn't been born yet.
Right. Or let's look at US presidents, US leaders. You've got some more recent examples right here,
but let's go even farther. In the past, JFK rocking the aviators,
you got sports heroes like Lewis Hamilton and Freddie Mercury. Next up,
let's talk about how aviators work with so many different face shapes.
First up, we've got the oval face shape. If you have this face shape,
most sunglasses are gonna work for you. Aviators are just. Boom. We're gonna fit in there. Look,
great. The only thing you want to be careful about is don't go with a pair of aviators
that are too small, rounded face shapes. A little bit harder to wear different styles
of sunglasses with, especially ones that can just make you look comical.
They basically frame up the face, they give it a more masculine look. And if you've got
a round face, aviators are where it's at. Next, we've got a square face. So
aviators bring a bit of softness to the edges, and this is important because you
try to wear wayfairs maybe a little bit over the top, a little bit too square.
You bring in aviators, boom, it's just gonna compliment your square face. Next up,
let's talk about the heart-shaped face. Very distinctive because of that hair line dropper
right there on the front. With a heart shaped face, you wanna make sure you go with a pair
of aviators that fit perfectly. Don't go with oversized aviators because that can
just exaggerate the shape of the face, make that heart look really obvious.
But no, we want to go with either a smaller pair or a medium sized pair. Again,
it's gonna work for most men out there. And then let's talk about the cultural.
Influence. So many examples out there of men wearing aviator sunglasses looking amazing,
and you see your favorite musician wearing these. All of a sudden you can't tell where his eyes are.
He's a man of mystery, and you're able to bring that same look to your wardrobe. Yeah,
you can find cheap aviators, you can buy expensive ones. Doesn't matter,
Jens, as long as they look good, as long as the lenses are of good quality to protect your eyes,
you can look amazing. You can look more stylish in a pair of aviators.
Alright gents. What video to watch next? Well, I got you covered right here with this video,
which, uh, yeah, you can tell what it is. Click on it, go check it out. Magically, you'll be taken to
this next video, which I promise is amazing. Check it out. Uh, boom, click it right there. That's it.