Affective glasses frame design to enhance facial symmetry and attractiveness

In fashion industry, facial decorations are recognized as an efficient way to improve facial attractiveness. Glasses frames, which are bilaterally symmetrical, can be used not only to correct sightness problems but also as a decorating accessory to enhance personal appearances. This research has delivered the groundwork of glasses frame design features underlying the improvement of emotional appeal, physical symmetry and attractiveness. 16 pre-selected glasses frames embedded with manipulated design factors are fitted to one female and male faces, which are selected from the photos of 200 university students. The extent of the frame design affecting facial symmetry and attractiveness is then evaluated by another 42 students using a 7-point Likert's scale. The results show that wearing the glasses frames does generally improve facial symmetry but inconsistently to facial attractiveness. The facial enhancement in respects of the five affective groups partially shows similarity to attractiveness. Aspect ratio has been identified as a significant design factor, in which lower ratio frames appear to be better. To summarize, artificially improving the facial attractiveness requires more than just an enhancement of facial symmetry.