Start here
What’s This About
Rectangular, square, aviator, bottom-weighted and oval frames are the five families this page walks through for a face described as heart, meaning a forehead broader than the jaw with the outline narrowing towards the chin.
The decisions that settle the choice come before the outline of the front, such as:
whether the bridge suits your nose, which is a separate measurement from your forehead
what the three numbers stamped inside the temple describe
what the front of a given model actually looks like, rather than what its name implies
whether you want weight low on the frame or would rather ignore the idea entirely
and many more!
Frame names are unreliable here, so this page tells you what to look at on the front itself.
Key Points
01Weight along the lower half of a frame draws the eye downward, which is an impression to judge in the mirror rather than a measured change to your proportions.
02Your forehead width does not set the width of the frame or the size of the bridge; the bridge figure is a frame dimension and the overall width has to suit your head.
03Frame-family names describe a tradition rather than a fixed geometry, so look at the actual front of the model in front of you before trusting any claim about where it is widest.
04Glasses sit around your eyes, so nothing here widens a chin; what changes is where the eye goes first when it reads your face.
On this page
Decide what you want the frames to do
Men whose faces are described as heart have a forehead and cheekbone region broader than the jaw, with the outline tapering towards a more defined chin.
The eyewear brief that follows is to keep the frame from adding more weight at the top, and, if you want it, to place some interest lower down, which is a modest aim honestly stated rather than a correction.
If you are not sure which description fits your face, our face shape quiz gives you a starting label to work from rather than an anatomical verdict.
Step 1
Decide What You Want the Frames to Do
Because glasses sit across the upper half of the face, they have far more to say about your brow than about your chin, and being clear about that keeps the aims honest.
Aim one
Keep weight off the brow
A fine top rim, a rimless upper edge or a modest frame width keeps the glasses from becoming the widest line across the top of your face. This is the most reliable of the three aims, because it is about what the frame does not do.
Aim two
Put some interest lower down
A heavier lower rim, a deeper lens or a low-set temple gives the eye somewhere to travel below your brow, which is the reasoning behind the bottom-weighted recommendations here. Read it as where attention lands, not as width added to your chin.
Aim three
Ignore the balancing idea altogether
A tapering face with a defined chin is a description, not a fault to be corrected, and choosing a frame you like on a face that fits it is a complete answer. If you prefer browlines, that preference is reason enough.
The one sentence to leave with
Glasses sit around your eyes, so they change where attention falls rather than the width of your jaw, and any page promising to add width to your chin is overselling a pair of frames.
Step 2
Fit First: The Bridge Is Not a Forehead Measurement
A good deal of advice for tapering faces tells men to choose frames narrower than the forehead and to match the bridge to the forehead, and the second half of that instruction has no basis in how frames are fitted.
The three numbers inside the left temple, printed as something like 52-18-145, give lens width, bridge width and temple length in millimetres, and each answers a different question about your head.
Bridge width is the gap between the lenses, and the printed bridge figure is a frame dimension rather than a measurement of your nose, and how the frame actually sits depends on the shape and projection of that bridge, on the pads if it has them and on the tilt of the front, so the figure narrows a search rather than settling a fit. Temple length is the path from the hinge to behind your ear, and the overall width of the front, both lenses plus the bridge plus the rims and hinges, is what has to clear the sides of your head.
None of the three can be read off the width of your forehead, and a man with a broad forehead may well need a narrow bridge. Ray-Ban’s size and fit guide treats bridge options, including low-bridge fits and adjustable pads, as fitting features for exactly this reason.
The four checks to run in the mirror
Warby Parker’s guide to how glasses should fit gives the consumer checks, and optician Sue Deal’s frame fitting article for the ABDO covers bridge contact, head width, side length, lens weight and prescription suitability from the dispensing side.
01Nose: the bridge or the pads should carry the weight evenly with no pinching, and the frame should stay put when you look down, which matters more with a heavier lower rim.
02Temples: the frame should sit securely with no uncomfortable pressure where the sides cross your head, and contact along the side near the ear is normal rather than a fault.
03Cheeks and lashes: a deep lower rim is the point of several families here, so smile fully and check the rim stays clear of your cheeks, and blink to check your lashes.
04Prescription: a deeper lens adds thickness and weight on a strong prescription, so ask your optician how the lens will finish in the frames you are considering.
The fuller explanation of frame measurement sits on our guide to glasses styles for men’s face shapes, so this page keeps to the checks that matter most when the lower half of the frame is doing the work.
Step 3
Five Frame Families Worth Trying
Each family below is described by what you can see on the front, so you can check the claim against the actual frame rather than taking the name on trust.
1. Rectangular frames
A rectangular front is even in weight from top to bottom, wider than it is deep, and it keeps the top rim modest, which serves aim one without making a statement of any kind.
What to check: compare the width of the front with a pair that already fits rather than measuring anything on your face, and look for a model with a slightly deeper lower rim if you want aim two as well.
2. Square frames
Square fronts run deeper than rectangles for the same width, so more of the frame sits below your pupils, which is the simplest way of putting acetate lower on the face without a two-tone design.
What to check: the extra depth is the first casualty of a full smile, so run the cheek check before you decide, and consider a model with softened corners if a hard square reads too severe against a tapering jaw.
3. Aviator frames
The aviator family is where frame names cause the most trouble, because different makers and models are shaped differently and the traditional pilot outline is not built the same way as a squared-off navigator.
Rather than accept a general claim about where an aviator is widest, look at the front of the model you are holding, in a straight-on photograph or in the mirror, and see for yourself whether the lens carries more of its area above or below the mid-line.
Aviators are typically built with a fine metal top bar rather than a heavy rim, which serves aim one, and often with a deep lens that puts plenty of frame below your eye, so check both on the model in front of you.
What to check: adjustable nose pads make this the easiest family to set at the right height, and the depth of the lens makes cheek clearance the check that matters.
4. Bottom-weighted frames
These are frames cut deeper or darker along the lower rim than the upper, sometimes with a fine metal or clear top edge and a solid acetate base, which is the reverse of a browline and the most direct expression of aim two.
What to check: the style is uncommon in men’s ranges, so be prepared to look, and check that the heavier base does not put the frame’s weight so far forward that it creeps down your nose.
5. Oval frames
An oval front is wider than it is deep with no corner anywhere, which keeps the top line soft and undemanding, and the curve reads gently against a tapering outline.
What to check: a shallow oval leaves little depth for a varifocal, so confirm the minimum depth your lens design needs, and look at where the temples join, since a low-set hinge is what carries the eye down rather than across.
Frame Colour and Your Seasonal Palette
Colour cannot move weight around a frame, but a darker lower rim against a lighter top is visible from across a room, which is the one way colour supports the aim described on this page.
If you don’t know your seasonal colour, take our quiz, and treat a seasonal palette as one styling aid alongside fit, comfort, lens needs and your own preference.
Depth and brightness vary within each family and by subseason, so read the four groups below as directions to compare rather than fixed rules, and judge the actual frame shade on your own face.
Spring colour suggestions
Spring palettes lean warm and clearer, which points to frames in caramel, amber, warm tortoise, golden brown or clear warm tones, with the deeper of those colours along the lower rim.
Summer colour suggestions
Summer palettes lean cool and softer, which points to cool grey, blue-grey, mauve, rose brown or cool tortoise patterns, and a two-tone front keeps the contrast gentle.
Autumn colour suggestions
Autumn palettes lean warm and softer, at whatever depth suits the subseason, which points to deep brown, olive green, bronze, copper, or warm tortoise carrying amber highlights.
Winter colour suggestions
Winter palettes lean cool and clearer, with depth varying by subseason, which points to black, navy, clear crystal, burgundy, or cool tortoise with black through it, and a clear upper rim over a dark base is the sharpest version of the two-tone idea.
For a fuller reading of your own colouring, our Professional Seasonal Colour Analysis goes further than the four starting points above.
The Usual Warnings, and What They Are Worth
Four warnings appear on most heart-face eyewear lists, and all four are statements of the same preference rather than faults in the frames.
Top-heavy and browline frames: a heavy brow rim adds weight where your face is already broadest, which is a consistent reason to skip it if aim one is yours, and no reason at all if you simply like browlines.
Oversized frames: the useful version of this warning is a fitting one, since a frame that does not fit your head can press or sit loosely and slide forward, and a large frame that measures correctly is a legitimate choice.
Cat-eye and upswept corners: an upswept corner lifts the eye towards the brow, which works against aim two, and that is the whole of the argument. It is a preference, not a prohibition.
Frames wider at the top: the same point again, stated about the outline of the front, and worth exactly as much as the aim you chose in step one.
Questions People Ask
Q. Are aviators wider at the bottom than the top?
Not as a general rule, since aviator fronts differ between makers and models and the traditional pilot outline is not built like a squared-off navigator. Look at a straight-on photograph of the model you are considering, or hold it up in the shop, and judge the front for yourself. What aviators typically offer on a tapering face is a fine metal top bar and often a deep lens, both of which serve the aims described above, so check them on the model you are holding.
Q. Should the frames be narrower than my forehead?
Keeping the frame from becoming the broadest line across your upper face is a reasonable preference, and it is not a measurement you should take. Frame width is a head measurement, settled by whether the frame sits securely without uncomfortable pressure, and the bridge figure is a frame dimension rather than a measurement of your nose. Choose the front that fits, then, among frames that fit, prefer the one that suits the aim you picked.
Q. Do glasses add width to my chin?
No. The frame sits around your eyes, well above your jaw, so nothing it does changes the width of your chin. What a heavier lower rim can do is give the eye somewhere to settle below your brow, and whether that reads as better balance is for you to judge in a mirror and a photograph.
Q. Can I wear browline frames with this face shape?
Yes. The only argument against it is that a heavy brow adds weight where your face is already broadest, which is a preference rather than a defect. If you like browlines and the pair fits, wear them.
Q. Does the face shape quiz confirm my face shape?
The quiz sorts your answers into one of our navigation categories and gives you a place to start reading, and it is not an anatomical measurement or a professional assessment. Heart and diamond are the two descriptions most often confused, separated by whether the broadest measurement is at the forehead or at the cheekbones, so check that before settling on a page.
Take the First Step With The VOU’s Styling Quizzes
Start your style journey with our resources. First, take our Face Shape Quiz for a starting point on your face shape and initial styling guidance.
Try our Seasonal Colour Analysis Quiz as a starting point for colour comparisons, and treat the result as provisional.
Check your body shape with our Body Shape Quiz, and your personal style with our Fashion Style Quiz.
Styling Consultations
If you would like personal help, you can book a paid consultation.
Our Professional Body Shape Analysis, Fashion Style Analysis, and Complete Image Transformation services are paid consultations; the shop page lists what each one includes.
Visit our styling services page to see our paid consultations.
Mandy Meyer’s focus at The VOU is men’s body-shape styling, garment fit and outfit proportions. Her coverage addresses the practical questions behind a wardrobe choice: how a jacket sits across the shoulders, how trousers fall and how different cuts change the silhouette a wearer wants to create.
Her subject areas include the triangle, inverted triangle, rectangle, oval, trapezoid, hourglass and diamond labels used in body-shape styling. These provide starting references for comparing visible proportions; they do not capture every body or prescribe one correct way to dress. The focus connects those observations with garment shape, construction, length and the relationship between the upper and lower parts of an outfit.
Mandy’s editorial coverage combines visual comparisons with fit checks for comfort and movement. Readers can consider whether a cut gives them the room they need, where clothing pulls or gathers and which changes might support their preferred look. The aim is to make menswear choices more understandable while keeping personal preferences and the wearer’s own styling goals central.