Green lens or green frame
A green lens is a tint in the lens itself, usually a grey-green that reads neutral from the inside. It is the tint that the classic aviator was built around, because it dims the sky and the glare without pushing the colours of the world warm or cool. A green lens is a real sun lens for bright days, which separates it from the fashion tints.
A green frame is coloured acetate or painted metal around a normal grey or brown lens. The view is unchanged; the colour is for other people. Green acetate sits between the neutrals and the brights: dark green behaves like black or tortoise, olive like a warm brown, and bottle green is a colour you choose on purpose.
The colour of a lens says nothing about how much it protects; that comes from the lens material and its treatment, so a green lens is chosen for the view and checked as a sun lens separately. The tinted sunglasses guide covers every lens colour side by side.
What a green lens does
- Keeps colours true. Grey-green dims everything evenly, so reds stay red and the sky stays blue. Brown warms the view and sharpens contrast; grey flattens it; green sits between the two, which is why pilots and golfers have worn it for a century.
- Eases the eyes in bright light. A green tint reduces glare without the dimness of a dark grey, so a bright day feels bright rather than dusk.
- Works for driving. True colours matter at traffic lights and brake lights, and a green lens keeps them; the driving sunglasses guide compares it with brown and grey for the road.
- Does less for contrast than brown. On an overcast day or on water, a brown lens picks out detail better; the brown sunglasses guide is the one to read if contrast matters more than colour.
A green lens can be polarized or not. Polarization is a separate filter that cuts the glare bouncing off water and roads, and the polarized versus non polarized guide explains when it is worth having; one of the green lens pairs below carries it.
The shades of green frame
- Dark green and bottle green. Reads as a dark frame from a distance and as green up close. The most wearable version and the natural swap for anyone who finds black too hard and tortoise too familiar.
- Olive. Green with brown in it. Behaves like a warm neutral, sits with camel, khaki and denim, and is the green that suits the most colouring.
- Emerald and bright green. A statement colour, the loudest version, and the one that reads as fashion. Buy it when the rest of the outfit is quiet.
- Clear green and green crystal. A translucent acetate that lets light through the rim, lighter on the face and more summer than the solid shades.
Who green sunglasses suit
Green is the colour that flatters the widest range of complexions, because it is neither fully warm nor fully cool.
- Warm and olive skin. Olive and dark green both sit naturally; a bright emerald picks up the warmth.
- Cool and pink toned skin. A blue-leaning green, bottle green or emerald, works better than olive, which can read muddy against pink undertones.
- Fair skin and light hair. Dark green adds depth without the harshness of black; olive can wash out and is the one to try on first.
- Red and auburn hair. Green is the complementary colour and the one hairdressers would pick; every shade works.
- Grey and silver hair. Bottle green and emerald, which read as rich against grey.
The frame shape still decides the character. Green on a cat eye reads as vintage; green on a square reads as modern; a green aviator lens reads as classic. Dark green on any shape can replace tortoise, and the tortoise shell sunglasses guide is the place to compare the two.
Green sunglasses for women and for men
For women the green cat eye is the shape most ranges go deep on, from soft lifts in olive to bottle green with a sharper corner, with the oversized square as the modern alternative. For men green is nearly always a lens, the grey-green aviator lens on a gold or silver frame, and the olive square is the frame version that behaves like tortoise with more character. Either way the shade matters more than the gender: olive and dark green are the wearable ones, emerald the deliberate choice.
Fit
Colour does not hold a frame on. The checks are the same as for any pair: the front reaching the sides of the face, the eyes near the centre of each lens, the lower edge clear of the cheeks when you smile, and the frame staying put when you look down. The bridge decides the last two; a frame cut for a lower nose bridge sits level where a standard frame slides, and many of our frames are cut that way. Two of the five pairs below are, and the low bridge fit sunglasses collection lists the rest.
MUJOSH green sunglasses
Five pairs in the sunglasses collection carry green, checked against the product photographs. Three are green frames and two are green lenses.
Green frames:
- Talk Nice in GGB, $79: a soft cat eye in deep green acetate with a gentle upswept corner, non-polarized, cut for a lower nose bridge, one of five colourways. The green cat eye, and the pair to start with.
- GROVE in GRC, $99: a square in dark green acetate, one of two colourways. The bottle green square for anyone who wants the colour on a modern shape.
- Lix in OGBG, $99: an oversized square in olive green acetate with polarized lenses, cut for a lower nose bridge, one of three colourways for men and women. The olive that behaves like a warm neutral.
Green lenses:
- Retro Aviator in BGG, $119: a classic metal aviator in gold with a green lens, balanced temples and adjustable nose pads, one of two colourways. The lens the aviator was made for.
- Techon in BG, $89: a compact cat eye in ultra-light TR90 with a tortoise front and a yellow-green lens, polarized, one of three colourways. The one pair here with a green lens and the glare filter together.
The cat eyes sit in the cat eye sunglasses collection, the aviator in the aviator sunglasses collection, and the polarized pairs in the polarized sunglasses collection.
Yellow-green is the bridge to a different lens altogether; the yellow lens sunglasses guide covers pale yellow, amber and yellow-green and the light each is for.
The bottom line
Green sunglasses are a green lens or a green frame. The lens is the classic sun tint: true colours, less glare, the one for driving and bright days, with brown ahead of it only for contrast. The frame runs from olive, the warm neutral, through dark and bottle green, the tortoise alternative, to emerald, the statement. Green flatters more complexions than any other colour and suits red hair best of all. In the MUJOSH range Talk Nice, GROVE and Lix carry the green frames, and Retro Aviator and Techon carry the green lenses.
Frequently asked questions
Are green lens sunglasses good?
Yes, for bright days and driving: a grey-green lens dims the light evenly and keeps colours true, which is why it was the original aviator tint. Brown does better for contrast on overcast days or water. The colour does not decide the protection; that is the lens itself.
Who do green sunglasses suit?
Most people. Olive and dark green suit warm and olive skin and fair colouring; bottle green and emerald suit cool and pink toned skin and grey hair; every green suits red hair. The shape sets the character more than the shade.
What is the difference between green frame and green lens sunglasses?
A green frame is coloured acetate around a normal dark lens, so the view is unchanged. A green lens tints the view itself, keeping colours true while cutting glare. Most green sunglasses sold are green frames.
Which MUJOSH sunglasses are green?
Green frames: Talk Nice in GGB, GROVE in GRC and Lix in OGBG. Green lenses: Retro Aviator in BGG and Techon in BG; Techon and Lix are polarized.
