Misleading Looks: Science Explains Why People Look So Much Hotter Wearing Sunglasses

There's something sexy and mysterious about somebody sporting a pair of sunglasses. Find the perfect shape and size for your face and you're bound to look infinitely hotter and more alluring.

Now, our biggest summertime question has been answered: Why do people look so much better in sunglasses?

Vanessa Brown, a senior lecturer of art and design at Nottingham Trent University in the UK, gave New York Magazine an inside look into her research about the connection between shades and sex appeal.

According to Brown, sunglasses do a wide variety of positive things. They even out any asymmetries, which correlates directly to research proving that symmetrical faces are the most attractive ones. If you put on a pair of sunglasses, the lenses will instantly create a perfectly symmetrical face. Gone are those "asymmetrical oddities" present around your peepers.

Sunglasses also create the appearance of a defined, chiseled bone structure on top of a relatively softer face.

Additionally, people often form snap judgments about others by gazing into their eyes. Through eye contact, we can determine someone's confidence, sincerity, and intelligence. If those eyes are shielded, though, a person is automatically unreadable.

Nobody can form perceptions about people in shades, so they become mysterious.

This works both ways because then the wearer feels like he or she can't be scrutinized. A study showed that people who wore sunglasses felt more comfortable being dishonest and selfish than those without sunglasses on, suggesting that wearing sunglasses makes us feel like we're hiding behind a curtain and can act however we want. We feel like we're anonymous in shades.

This air of mystery incites the sexual desire inherent in all of us. We're drawn to people who we can't quite figure out, whose thoughts we don't quite know. This idea goes along with the newness of a relationship dying after a couple stays together for many years.

"The thrill is gone," is the common phrase.

But, as long as somebody is wearing sunglasses, the thrill is always there.

They're also edgy and glamorous. Sunglass sales picked up around the 1920s, and throughout the years, sunglasses have been used in conjunction with risky snow and water sports and new technologies like airplane travel. This created a relationship between sunglasses and modernness, solidifying their connection to "coolness."

Celebrities soon started sporting shades to hide themselves from the paparazzi or from being recognized by the public.

All in all, sunglasses are awesome. As Brown adds from personal experience, they're even good for hangovers. Which we can all certainly vouch for.

via: New York Magazine, Photo Courtesy: We Heart It