Leopard print designer sunglasses

A gold bar straight across a spotted front

Held at arm's length, the front is doing two opposite things at once: a leopard tortoiseshell pattern that goes wherever it likes, and one length of gold-tone metal that goes nowhere but straight. The bridge picks up the same finish. That rigid line earns its place: a busy pattern with nothing firm beside it tends to spread across the whole face, and this one is pinned in position. Round rims finish the job. If the shape is what you are still weighing up, it is worth lining this curve up against the rest of the sunglasses.

The spots carry on down the temples

From the side this is not a thin-armed frame. The temples are flat and wide, and the tortoiseshell runs their full length before it darkens at the tips. The hinge is metal and stays in view where the arm meets the front. It matters more than it sounds: once the glasses are on, the side is the part anyone standing next to you actually sees.

Leopard tortoiseshell sunglasses, detail by detail

Wearing brown tortoiseshell without matching brown

Brown tortoiseshell has a wider range than it gets credit for. It behaves on camel, on olive, on raw denim, on an oatmeal knit, and it holds its own against black instead of vanishing into it. The graduated lenses help as well: the paler base means you can keep them on indoors for a minute without seeming rude. For the same markings on a scarf, a scrunchie or a watch, look at the same print away from eyewear.