This trend took me back to middle school, when Coach logo bags were all the rage among 13-year-olds in St. Louis. I thought they were kinda ugly, but guess what was number one on my Christmas list? My mom got me a small, double-C-covered coin-purse wallet, hoping that would satisfy me until the fad passed. I dutifully used it for years—not because I liked it, but because it cost so much I felt guilty for asking for it in the first place.
In the years following, I thought I'd learned my lesson. I'd jump on a trend I like—hello, skinny jeans and straw bags—but sit out ones that felt fleeting. (Case in point: I might be the only white woman under the age of 30 to resist the allure of cold-shoulder tops.)
But back to the tiny sunglasses. They're everywhere this summer. On my coworkers. In my news feed. At the Forever 21 I walk through whenever I want to feel very, very old. It was frustrating. Mindy Kaling gets it:
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I complained about tiny sunglasses so often Ana took to sending me random photos of Bella in hers just to torture me.
I had a trip to Hawaii coming up and wanted new sunglasses, but everything I found, I thought, was ugly. One afternoon, before my looming vacation, Ana came up to my desk, snickering: She claimed to have a pair of tiny sunglasses that would change my mind. Yeah, right.
But then I tried them—Ray-Ban's Oval Flat Lenses. I wasn't sold at first (blue lens? Who am I, Papa Smurf?), but my coworkers assured me they looked good. Not above flattery, I reluctantly took them out on a test drive to Atlantic City.
As I walked around the Borgata pool, I got several compliments from women of all ages (and sunglass types). By Sunday I was feeling myself so much I considered them Instagram-worthy:
