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It's not just your imagination: Sunglasses really do make you look way hotter. And, it's not just because they're as adept at hiding hangovers as they are at obscuring that right eye that blinks just a second after the left.
At least, that's what Vanessa Brown, senior lecturer of art and design at U.K.'s Nottingham Trent University, tells us. Brown's research focuses on the meaning of everyday objects, including the link between sunglasses and our concept of "cool." According to her, the reasons almost everyone looks better with sunglasses on are many. But for us, the most convincing one is what you might call Brown's "too fabulous for life" theory.
See, sunglasses may be pretty ubiquitous now, but until the '50s, they were strongly associated with aviation and risky water and snow sports — so basically, shades-wearers were the daring, dashing, X Games stars of yore. Once celebs started wearing them in the '50s and '60s, as protection from the paparazzi's glare, sunglasses officially became the province of the rich and harassed — which means glamour, darlings.
Click over to Science of Us for more good reasons to slip on your favorite pair — besides the six Corpse Revivers you drank last night, that is. (Science of Us)