Sunglasses : Designer Sunglasses: Historical Overview of Sunglasses

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Historical Overview of Sunglasses

Sunglasses can be found on just about every corner you turn today. You can find them in groceries for a couple of bucks or in specialty stores for a couple of hundred dollars. Shades come in so a lot of different shapes, designs and colorings that there’s a pair out there for everybody. But the marketplace for sunglasses hasn’t always been this way.

Sunglasses have been in use for centuries and have developed over time into what they are today. They weren’t always the style icon they are today. Likewise, they weren’t always used for the same reason they are today either.

Amazingly, the first form of what we have as sunglasses today weren’t originally developed to shield eyes from the sun or help poor vision. In Ancient China, shades were developed out of smoky panes of quartz glass. Judges wore these prehistoric raybans as a way of holding their expressions to themselves. Little did they know that poker players centuries later would adopt this same principle use of the eye wear.

Ancient Rome can likewise take part of the credit for today’s sunglasses. The Emperor Nero, while observing gladiator fights delighted doing so through polished gems. It’s possible that the Emperor saw the benefits of warping the sun’s beams as a way of seeing more clear. It’s also possible that he enjoyed these early sunglasses because he thought the gladiators looked best in different colors. For whatever reason, sunglasses still today are available in any lens color you can dream of.

During the 18th century, the designing of sunglasses were changed by an inventor seeking to use color as a vision correction.
He was positive that blue and green tints helped the eye see better when vision was poor.
He had no reason to consider the rewards of screening the eyes from the sun, as no one knew what a UVA ray was at the time.
It wasn’t common knowledge during this time that the sun could be harmful and cause later vision problems.

Shades were finally introduced in the Americas in the early 20th century, around 1930. These innovative eye pieces were commercialised on the boardwalks of Atlantic City and promised to protect the wearer’s eyes from the adverse sun. It was in this same decade that polarization of the lenses was developed as well. The inventor of the famed Polaroid camera integrated his Polaroid filter into the makeup of the sunglasses’ lenses. This applied science, which is still used today, was the greatest step of its time toward the protection of the eyes from the sun.

Since the 1930’s, sun glasses have steadily become a favored add-on for everybody from the true style icon down to the fashion novice. Dark glasses have been applied as a way of showing off one’s flair, sophistication, and social status. Individuals have made their own styles famous and timeless.

The most famed of all the sunglasses style icons is unarguably the late Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, or simply “Jackie O.”. The over-sized sunglasses of the same name were a relic symbol of the former First Lady and American Icon. Around the year 2000, Jackie’s signature way was made pop again for young women by another style icon, Nicole Richie.

Shades have come a long way over time. They’ve evolved in uses, styles, fame and technology. With sunglasses what they’re today and their importance in pop culture, it’s difficult to imagine where and in what form they’ll turn up next. Keep your eyes open-and your shades handy-to find out!