We put three pairs on the same 54-year-old man. The most elegant one wasn't the most famous.

The real culprit: the heavy frame and the solid lenses

More than 47 million American men are past fifty. And in the photo, the problem is almost always the same. Past 50, the face gets lighter: the hair, the beard, the skin. A thin black frame can still work. What no longer works is the thick frame with solid lenses that half the men over 50 have worn for twenty years, Ray-Ban's Wayfarer first among them. It weighs the face down, it darkens it, and behind opaque lenses the eyes disappear. It looks like a wall sitting on the face.

Why an ice-blue gradient works with silver

Cool blue and grey belong to the same family. Instead of fighting, they answer each other. The gradient lets light through the bottom of the lens, so you still see the eyes. And a clear frame draws no black line across the middle of the face.

The result: the eyes stand out, the face looks slimmer, and grey hair becomes an asset instead of a detail to hide.

The pair that keeps coming up

It's called the Riviera. An Italian house makes it in quality acetate^*, from the same workshops that supply the big luxury eyewear names. Crystal frame, ice-blue gradient lenses, solid temples with a gold engraving on the inside.

On a man with salt-and-pepper hair, it looks like it was drawn for him. It works with linen, white, light blue. It holds up at noon by the water as well as on a terrace at 7 pm.

For scale: a Ray-Ban Wayfarer sells for $191, and its frame has been injection-molded plastic, not acetate, since 1990. A Persol 649, in Italian acetate, runs about $280. The Riviera is acetate, and it comes in pairs: $49 for two, buy one, get one free.

In the United States it's by far their most requested model: nearly one pair sold in two is a Riviera.

^* Acetate: a material made from cotton fibers, cut from a solid block and hand-polished, the one used for luxury frames. Warmer, glossier and sturdier than the injection-molded plastic of cheap frames.

See the Riviera model

What their wives say

« Best purchase of the year, and it's not even for me. My husband is 56 and hadn't changed his sunglasses in ten years. Since this summer, it's his friends asking him where he found them. »

Karen M., 54, Scottsdale, Arizona

Everyone who's switched says the same thing: the compliments come from the women first, then the friends. On Trustpilot, the house that makes it holds 4.6+ stars across 2,900+ reviews.

★★★★★ 4.6+ stars · 2,900+ reviews on Trustpilot

See the Riviera model

Two pairs, one for each outfit

One pair isn't enough for a man who dresses. The Riviera goes with light outfits, linen, white. For a dark shirt or a navy polo, the Calypso, from the same house: a thin black frame and the Sahara Sea gradient, sky blue at the top, sand orange at the bottom. It throws a warm light on the cheekbones and gives the skin a tanned look, as if you'd just come back from the sun.

Right now, the house gives you a second pair for every pair you buy. Two pairs for $49, free shipping: the Riviera for light outfits, the Calypso for dark ones.

At the time we publish, the offer is live. The house doesn't say for how long.