Oversized Glasses Frames for Every Face Shape

At Pair Eyewear, we don’t believe in shrinking violets. Everyone has their own big personality, and we say — go big! Let that personality bloom with standout style statements. And there’s no bigger style than oversized glasses frames.

Oversized glasses have been making a statement for decades. Marilyn Monroe wore a pair of oversized cat-eye frames in “How to Marry a Millionaire” in the 1950s, Diane Keaton wore oversized round frames in “Looking for Mr. Goodbar” in the 1970s, and Meryl Streep wore oversized oval frames in “The Devil Wears Prada” in the early 2000s.

These powerhouse ladies know how to make a style statement, but they might know something else too: Oversized glasses frames have perks that go way beyond looking pretty.

We’ll share our three favorite oversized glasses styles, explain some of the benefits of going big, and give you a few tips for choosing the right eyeglass frames for you.

3 Oversized Glasses Frames for Every Face Shape

It really only takes three frame shapes to flatter every face shape. So somewhere in this list of three oversized glasses frames is the perfect pair for you. (If you’re not sure which shape would be best for you, you can use this guide to find your face shape or use the virtual try-on feature on Pair.)

In addition to flattering frame shapes, these oversized glasses are also comfortable and durable. They’re made with lightweight cellulose acetate frames and flexible spring hinges. You can also get them with premium lenses, which are thinner to make your glasses even lighter on your face.

All of these frames are available with single-vision lenses, progressive lenses, reading glasses lenses, or non-prescription lenses. And you can add blue-light blocking or light-responsive transition lenses. The blue-light glasses are even made with clear lenses, rather than with a distracting yellow tint.

They come in six colors: black, tortoiseshell, blue tortoiseshell, clear, blue clear, and pink clear. And you can add snap-on Top Frames to change the look of the glasses at any time. So you can have red frames, polka dot frames, or even cheetah-print frames in a snap — and all from a single pair of oversized glasses.

You can also get any of these frames as oversized sunglasses, or add snap-on Sun Tops (like these Rose Gold Sparkle Sun Tops) to get your prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses in a single pair.

1. The Kirby

These oversized glasses frames give us major Velma vibes from Scooby-Doo. They’re nerd-chic in the best way possible. And the square shape perfectly captures retro ‘70s style. (Throw in Velma’s mustard yellow turtleneck, and you’ll be as ‘70s as can be.) Square glasses frames are some of the best glasses for round faces. They’re also oh-so flattering on oval and triangular faces.

2. The Wanda

For a flirty, feminine style, The Wanda puts a modern spin on a vintage classic. These oversized cat-eye glasses have a lens width that’s slightly larger at the top of the frame than at the bottom. The shape draws attention up toward your eyes and flatters so many face shapes, including oval, square, triangular, and heart-shaped faces.

3. The Otis

Round eyeglass frames may be beloved by trendy hipster types (and who can blame them — these glasses go great with a fedora). But if you ask us, this frame shape is less trendy and more timeless. The Otis frames are our go-to oversized round glasses. They have a high nose bridge that leaves your browline visible to accentuate your facial expressions. They’ll flatter the facial features of anyone with a square or triangular face shape.

The Perks of Oversized Eyeglass Frames

The biggest perk of big glasses is the lenses. If you wear prescription eyeglasses, then your field of vision is limited to the size of your lenses. So, if you have smaller frames with smaller lenses, it will limit your peripheral vision. But large frames with large lenses will give you a larger field of vision.

There are also some prescription lenses — like progressive lenses — that don’t fit in small frames. These lenses need to be a certain size to provide the vision correction you need. So, you’ll need large eyeglass frames to accommodate your prescription.

And finally, our favorite perk of wearing oversized glasses is that you can get that pesky frame out of your peripheries. Don’t get us wrong — we love seeing our frames when we catch our reflection in the mirror. But, we don’t want to see them out of the corner of our eye when we’re wearing our glasses. Choosing oversized glasses frames keeps the edges of your vision frame-free.

The Possible Pitfalls (and How to Avoid Them)

For all their perks, oversized eyeglasses aren’t perfect (unless you’re careful to choose the perfect pair, of course).

Weight

The wrong pair of oversized glasses frames can be heavy on your face. And a heavy pair of glasses will leave skin irritation on your nose and indents across your cheeks. But, modern technology has made this problem easier to avoid.

Full-rim glasses used to be made from real horn or tortoiseshell. (That’s where the terms horn-rimmed glasses and tortoiseshell glasses come from.) Genuine horn is heavy, which meant full-rim eyeglasses weighed your face down and oversized ones were even worse.

The only way to avoid this used to be to buy rimless glasses. (Picture President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s glasses, and you’ll get the idea — it’s not exactly a fashion statement.) But now, most full-rim glasses are made of plastic.

While some types of plastic are still quite heavy, you can choose lightweight oversized glasses frames by looking for frames made from cellulose acetate. This plant-based plastic is extremely lightweight, flexible, and durable, so even big glasses feel comfortable on your face.

Fit

Another key to choosing comfortable oversized glasses is to make sure the frames don’t rest on your cheeks.

The nose pads on your glasses are there to prevent the bottom of your frames from sitting on your cheeks and causing indents. If your eyeglass frames do touch your cheeks, it’s a sign that the glasses are too big for your face. Look for something just a little bit smaller to get the oversized look without sacrificing comfort.

How Big Should You Go?

Oversized glasses frames are not one-size-fits-all. Not only do we all have different face shapes, we also have different face sizes. If you have a narrow face, then a pair of oversized glasses that look great on someone else might look way too big on you.

And if your glasses are too big for your face, they might fall off or cause some of the other fit issues we described above. That will make your big-frame glasses go from fashion-forward to fashion faux pas.

To make sure you get adorable oversized frames and not gargantuan glasses, take the time to figure out your ideal glasses measurements. If you typically wear a narrow frame size, you can likely get the oversized look with a pair of medium-sized glasses. But if you typically wear medium or wide glasses, you’ll need to opt for a wide frame size to get the same look.

Big, Bold, Beautiful

At Pair Eyewear, you can get one pair of oversized glasses frames and create hundreds of bold, beautiful looks. Our snap-on Top Frames allow you to change the color or pattern of your glasses in seconds. You can go from timeless tortoiseshell to tartan plaid in a snap. You can even turn your prescription glasses into oversized sunglasses with our Sun Tops.

Explore all of our glasses and use our virtual try-on feature to find the oversized frames that are the best fit for you. Then, order your favorites without fear — you’ll have 30 days to wear and return your glasses (yes, even prescription glasses!) if they’re not right for you.

Big glasses are about making a big statement. And with Pair, you can make a different statement every day. So, be bold, and be undeniably you!