SUNGLASSES HAVE always played two roles: to shield your eyes from damaging UV rays, and to make you look cool. Just what constitutes “cool” has fluctuated with the decades—remember our early-2000s obsession with bedazzled frames? But few designs have more questionable associations than flip-up, clip-on shades, despite their ability to cleverly block or let in sunlight via a hinge attachment.
While aviator sunglasses evoke Tom Cruise in “Top Gun” and understated black frames conjure icons like Joan Didion and Jackie O., the closest thing the flip-up has to an avatar is the nerdy, well-meaning Dwayne Wayne of “A Different World.”
ICON STATUS Most modern flip-up styles look nothing like the pair Dwanye Wayne (played by Kadeem Hardison) rocked on ‘A Different World.’ But honestly he’s pulling them off.
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NBCUniversal/Getty Images
The style nevertheless has discreetly endured. Oliver Peoples—the Los Angeles brand known for chic, vintage-inspired eyewear—has sold flip-up-shades and clip-ons for some of its popular frames for years. More recently, emergent outdoor optics companies have been doing their best to reinvest flip-ups with a sense of currency.
No longer just a way to shade prescription specs, sleek new versions come permanently clipped to their own lens-less frames with more subtle hinges. When you’re hiking or working out, popping the hood can provide a nice airflow boost and playfully force passersby to do a double-take.
Vibrant colors and sleek shapes have made contemporary flip-up sunglasses genuinely covetable. Smith XC, from $169, SmithOptics.com
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F. Martin Ramin/ The Wall Street Journal
A Reworked Classic
Smith Optics launched in the 1960s with ski goggles, but began making sunglasses for athletes in 1978. Its popular wraparounds provided complete protection from sun, snow and wind, but were prone to fogging up. This year, the company remixed and released a flip-up version of one of these from its archive. The updated Smith XC ($169) has a more modern silhouette and lenses treated with colorful ChromaPop, an extremely 2023 technology that sharpens contrast.
Pit Viper Copacabana Flip-Off, $100, PitViper.com
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F. Martin Ramin/ The Wall Street Journal
Explicitly Sporty
The cult following of Pit Viper, the Salt Lake City outdoor apparel brand known for tongue-in-cheek marketing, has grown significantly over the last few years after its partnerships with athletes like former NFL star Rob Gronkowski and several Nascar drivers. The company launched two styles of flip-up last fall, including the Flip-Off ($100) which has become a hit in the freeskiing and mountain biking world. Available in four frame colors, it has a hinge that opens and closes with a distinct snap for a delightfully emphatic transformation.
More traditional, still striking. Moscot Fliptosh, from $390, Moscot.com
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MOSCOT
Daily Drivers
Nonathletes can also enjoy the utility of flip-up sunglasses, with many pairs elegant enough for regular wear. Take the Fliptosh (from $390) from eyewear designer Moscot, based in New York City. The frame itself, which can take prescription lenses, is chunky yet chic. But the nondetachable flip-up, with its subtly green-tinted lenses, makes them special.
The Wall Street Journal is not compensated by retailers listed in its articles as outlets for products. Listed retailers frequently are not the sole retail outlets.
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