The Popular Sunglasses Trend Sofia Vergara Would Never Wear

"I'm 47, but by 42, my sight was bad" explains Sofia Vergara, the actor-turned-entrepreneur whose is chatting to me on the phone from her home in Los Angeles. "I had never in my life needed to wear glasses. So, for a long time, I was fighting it." Vergara put off buying a pair, unable to find a style that felt like a fit for her personality. But, after years of squinting, headaches, and discomfort, she had a realization: "It's better to wear your readers and own it, because [many of us] will need to wear glasses no matter what. So, I decided that that was what I needed to do ... create a line that would make women want to wear their glasses." And, thus, Sofia Vergara x Foster Grant was born — a range of prescription lenses and sunglasses that are designed to stand out.

Launching on May 20, the eyewear collection includes 24 styles, all of which range in styles from aviator to cat-eye, and all of which lean toward maximalist. "With readers, people think that they [should] get something that is very dainty and very small, and that it's not gonna show as much. But I think that's horrible," Vergara jokes. "What I wanted was to make a beautiful design that called attention, colors and materials that are comfortable and light, and shapes that are going to look good on every face." The cat-eye styles are her favorite example; women who've test-driven the collection might initially shy away from the pointed look, but the shape ends up as their favorite.

While Vergara's adventurous personal style played a definitive role in the collection's aesthetic, it was Foster Grant's expertise in shapes that helped to solidify the breadth of the collection. "I'm not an expert in designing sunglasses," Vergara says. She partnered with Foster Grant's VP of Product Development, Matthew Coon to help synthesize her sense of style into the collab while sticking to an accessible price point ($30 - $40 a pair, to be exact).

The collection also gives rise to a new philanthropic initiative, Specs 4 Specs, through which each pair sold will donate to one pair of readers to those living with uncorrected vision (which, as of now, is the world's largest disability, affecting 2.7 billion people globally). "I love [being] at this point in my career, where I can team up with projects that are able to give back to the community and help someone," says Vergara. "Because, at the end of the day, glasses are not a luxury, they're a necessity."

Continue ahead for key styles from the new collab: