BY DESIGN : Made in the Shades : Accessories: What’s behind your choice of sunglasses? Designs can reflect who you are--or wish you were.

Whether you’re hiding behind a pair of chic Armani shades or a slick pair of Black Flys, your sunglasses reflect not only ultraviolet rays but also your personality.

More than most accessories, sunglasses have the power to shape your image, to tap into secret desires and insecurities. Want to appear athletic? Avant-garde? Cool? Intimidating? By reshaping the face and concealing the eyes, sunglasses act as masks, and, like masks, they can tell a lot about how you see yourself.

Image is everything when it comes to shades. Small wonder, then, that people tend to want the same styles of sunglasses worn by image-makers--their heroes in the media, movies and on MTV.

Meg Ryan looked adorable in her small, tinted specs in “French Kiss,” so Meg wanna-bes are snapping up look-alike shades in the hope of projecting some of the actress’s zany charm. Likewise, those who want to look menacing are opting for industrial-style metal frames such as the kind worn by the bad guys in “Die Hard With a Vengeance.”

“Your eyes say a lot about you, and if you’re covering them up, what you cover them with can say a lot about you, too,” says James Cook, manager of Sunwatch in Fashion Island Newport Beach. “When they can’t see your eyes, people judge you by the attitude of the sunglasses.”

Cook divides sunglass buyers into two camps: those concerned with what they see and those more interested in how they look to others. Most fall into the latter category.

“People who care about fashion don’t care about protection,” Cook says. “A guy will spend 15 minutes looking at himself in the mirror with a pair of sunglasses, then at the last minute he’ll look out the window and say, ‘Oh, do these provide protection?’ ”

Shades with small lenses offer less protection, but they’re popular. People willingly sacrifice performance for image.

A sure sign that wearing shades has more to do with vanity than with protection is the increase in people wearing sunglasses indoors or at night.

“To me, that’s the stupidest thing in the world. I hate that,” says John Dao, manager of Sunglass Gallery in Laguna Beach. “People do it because they want to look cool, because sunglasses can improve their looks,” he says.

Sunglasses can have all kinds of uses not related to eye protection.

“Sunglasses can give you more sex appeal; they can make you look mean; they can give you an attitude, they can make you look more approachable or less approachable,” Cook says. “A Cartier or Gaultier can give you status; everyone knows you spent a lot of money on them.”

Wrap-style shades, with their sleek aerodynamic shapes, are favored by people who want to look seriously tough.

“Men look mean in small black wraparounds,” Cook says. “A lot of bouncers at clubs wear them at night. They make them look intimidating.”

For those who fancy themselves members of the avant-garde, there are industrial-looking styles by designers such as Jean Paul Gaultier, who has created a collection of shades with small oval lenses and funky metal frames.

“They look like a bunch of space parts thrown together,” Cook says. One style at Sunwatch comes in copper with dark green oval lenses ($225).

Status-conscious types insist on sunglasses with designer labels. For them, there are Sunwatch’s Armani shades with thin wire frames in classic designs (about $200).

DKNY’s Jackie O-style glasses are for those hoping their sunglasses add class. For the fashion-forward there are DKNY shades with thin pewter frames and small blue oval lenses (about $100), available at Sunglass Gallery.

“Some people want to make a bold statement. They want their sunglasses to say, ‘Here I am,’ ” Dao says.

When buying a pair of shades, it helps to know thyself.

Some people buy shades that don’t match their personality or their facial structure because they’re too busy imitating others, especially people in the media.

“A lot of times people’s perception of what they look like in a pair of sunglasses versus what they actually look like is different,” says Steve Teregis, marketing director for Spex in Costa Mesa, a sunglass maker and retailer.

“They’re influenced by what they see on other people.”

While designer shades are for those who fancy themselves hip, Cook says those who are really on the cutting edge don’t want fashion over function.

“The really cool people--the surfers and the skaters--are wearing the wraps”--sunglasses that fit entirely over the socket like goggles, Cook says. “The more bug-eyed, the better.”

They like shades that offer total eye protection when they’re surfing and skating.

“They look like fly eyes,” says Cook, showing off a pair of silver-framed wraps by Oakley ($125) that make him look like Jeff Goldblum in the movie “The Fly.” Black Flys’ basic black wrap, called “Super Fly” ($45), is also hot with the surf-and-skate crowd.

“They hug your head really good,” Cook says.