Who knew so much went into choosing the right pair of glasses? Glasses, also known as eyeglasses or spectacles, are devices consisting of lenses mounted in a frame that holds them in front of a person’s eyes. Glasses are typically used for vision correction. Corrective lenses are made to conform to the prescription of an optometrist.
In the 1950s, a proper pair of spectacles became more about style than function, as you can see in the clip from Vintage Fashions. Some of the styles that were popular in the 1950s include horn-rimmed, browline, cat eye, and rimless glasses. The browline name derives from the fact that the bold upper part of the frames frame the lenses in the same way that eyebrows frame the eyes.
For a period in the 1950s, plastic brows designed to emulate wood grains became popular, with Victory Optical offering models that allowed wearers to switch off the caps to coordinate with different outfits.
Cat eye glasses are a shape of eyewear. They have an upsweep at the outer edges where the arms join the frame front. They were mainly popular in the 1950s and 1960s among fashionable women and are usually associated with the Beehive hairstyle.
Finally, rimless glasses are a type of eyeglasses in which the lenses are mounted directly to the bridge and/or temples. The style is divided into two subtypes: three-piece glasses are composed of lenses mounted to a bridge and two separate temple arms, while rim-ways feature a supporting arch that connects the temples to the bridge.
What do you think of the types of glasses that were considered stylish in the 1950s? I think there are several pairs of those that I would wear – so retro and cool. Check them all out in the video below.
