Beyond The Label, Sunnies

When I started this series, I wasn’t sure how I was going to go about my own story. I’m still not sure if the way I word this will be as eloquent as I hope I was with our If Jewels Could Talk and Handbags edits, but I hope my efforts will suffice. Like our other stories, mine revolves around a particular possession, specifically sunglasses, which I like to call sunnies. What can I say? I love the Aussies and if they call them sunnies then I will too.

I’ve often been asked why I buy so many, and many times the answers I come up with leave the questioner with a baffled expression. “Honestly, how many sunglasses do you need? What is the point? Wouldn’t you rather spend it on shoes? What if you break them? How much did you spend on them? That’s a car payment. They’re so big, why are they so big? Really? That’s what you like?” I’ve been asked all of these questions, not by one person or at once, it’s been asked by many and in many forms of the above questions. Sometimes I look around and wonder when I entered a precinct.

It’s amusing to me, because the obsession with shoes, jewelry, and purses is much more understood and accepted by the general public. It may seem a bit extreme, and it just might be if I think about it from another’s perspective, but for me, there is a joy I can’t explain with my collection. Each sunnie has a personality, creating a distinct look with every outfit. Often times, I feel incomplete without them, even if all they do is perch on my head for the day, they are what completes my looks.

I’ve curated my collection over the course of years, painstakingly waiting for the right one to come along. Don’t get me wrong, there have been duds along the way, that I could never have anticipated until I was wearing them and realized that the chemistry just wasn’t there. One such was a real tragedy for me since I had hunted for them and a sale price for almost a year, my McQueens. I had coveted them for longer than is probably healthy and I was over the moon when I was finally able to order them because I finally had a gift card for Nordstrom on hand. They just went straight across by eyes, not fully reaching my brows and they just made it so difficult to love them to their full potential. Maybe they would look incredible on someone else, I just didn’t want to hold onto them if all they would do was make me sad, and so I just moved on because you can’t hold onto something that just isn’t meant for you.

Because there are plenty that are meant for you and they can make you so happy. There truly is a feeling you get when you find the right one. I for one feel more confident in my own skin, I can take a deep breath and just be content, my shoulders go back and I sit a little straighter, I sip my coffee with a little more leisure and I smile a little softer. I know what you are probably thinking, a material thing should not impact how you feel about yourself, but I cannot deny that each piece in my collection works as my own happy pill.

As someone who grew up loving fashion, both western and eastern, I began following trends and styles, testing out what worked and didn’t work. As a teenager in the 90’s you try to figure out how to pull off a puffer jacket, and guess what? It’s really hard. I could never do it, I went to stores in NYC so many times, hoping that maybe I just needed to try it on one more time and then it would work, it never did. And as a kid, when you see everyone else pull it off, it’s hard not to wonder what it is that will work for you. But in that is the beauty, it forces you to pay attention to yourself, and value that you know what works for you and what doesn’t. It’s truly a gift that you only realize in hindsight, but I am ever so grateful for it.

By high school, the one thing that I had mastered as part of my signature look was my cat eye black liner. Long before it was a major trend stateside, it was just common practice as a brown girl, but here, it was mine. And then one day, sophomore year, I was sitting in Honors Bio struggling to write down the chemical formula for glucose. So on our next trip to NYC, I took my new astigmatism diagnosis to the store and bought my first OGI prescription glasses and a pair of Tommy Hilfiger sunnies. They were frameless, the blackest navy could be, and they were everything. I wore them forever and I still have them to this day. I’ve outgrown them years before, but they are special because they were my introduction in the world I am so obsessed with now. Since I’ve had to think about it, this is what I would pinpoint as the time I fell in love with sunnies and what they could do for me.

I’ve had other loves over the years, designing clothing being one of my most memorable pursuits. Back in my senior year of high school I started taking my designs on trips to India with me and I continued to create pieces through college until we stopped going there. I still get the design bug here and there, but mostly I find styles I designed years before on store shelves now and it suits me just fine to buy those. Often times now, my taste in clothing leans more to classic, clean pieces, even within my casual wear. Acting as a canvas, it allows me to build with my accessories, which are namely my sunnies and a bracelet at most.

If you peaked in my room, you would honestly find a lot of stuff, which seems to contradict my statement for minimalism with clothes. The things I surround myself with are vibrant, but most of my closet is filled with black, white, camel, and pops of pink. I collect a lot, purging only every few years, but holding onto a lot in the end. And since I’m already in a long term relationship with sunnies I see no reason to end this love affair.

Being that I live in Syracuse where we are buried in snow for more months out of the year than not, and since I suffer from migraines, my sunnies help me while I’m driving around town in that blinding snow. It’s often in the winter that I use my more ornate sunglasses like my Dolces, as most of my clothes in the winter are more formal and put together. During the summer months, I find that the ones I use the most are the casual styles like my Ray-Bans or Tom Fords, either style goes effortlessly with my tee and denim uniform.

Back when I ran the shoot for our handbag edit I brought my collection of sunnies with me as well. Two were missing from the photos because one is with my best friend and the other was left on my desk. And since then I have bought three four more, one of which I’ve waited three years to finally go through with.For the most part I chose to select a few for the shoot to highlight as my favorites, some fairly recent purchases while others are vintage ones that have been handed down by my father.

Now I  know many girls just take their mother’s stylings with them, but let me tell you, while my mom might have the market on the best jewels and saris around it’s my dad that’s the dark horse. He has the most amazing collection of designer pieces from the 70’s and even now he can kill it with his ties and loafers. He can’t kill it with his sunglasses anymore because I took every single one that was incredible and fit them to my face. Since I got my mother’s features and his face cut there wasn’t a lot that needed to be altered.

So without further adieu, here is a look at my collection.

I know this installment wasn’t as heart tugging as our other’s, but sometimes our stories just have to fill us with joy and maybe a little desire to go shopping. 😉

Xo

Maliha

Location: The Lincklaen House, Cazenovia, New York