A Brief History of Sunglasses

The history of sunglasses can be traced backhundreds of years to the great Chinese dynasties. At the time smoke tinting wasthe method used to darken eyeglasses. The glasses were not initially intendedto protect people’s eyes from the sun and indeed early tinted glasses were saidto have been worn by judges in China who, for centuries, regularly wore the darkenedlenses not for vision-correction or to reduce glare from the sun (although theydid have the ability to do this) but these smoke-coloured flat panes of quartzwere actually used to conceal the eye expressions and to a point, facialexpressions of the judges whilst in court.

Smoke-tinted lenses did occasionally serve assunglasses but that was never their primary function, so when vision-correctingeyeglasses were introduced into China from Italy in c.1430, they too weretinted, though still mainly for use in the courts.

In the mid-18th century, an English man bythe name of James Ayscough began experimenting with tinted lenses in glasses,or spectacles as they were known. These were not "sunglasses" as such,as Ayscough strongly believed that blue, or even green tinted glass couldcorrect specific vision problems. Protection from the sun's rays was not anissue for Ayscough at the time.

It wasn't until the 20th centurythat modern-type sunglasses came to be. Earlysilent movie stars were said to wear them before filming to shield their eyesfrom the glare of stage lights, which were often as bright as the sun itself.In 1929, anAmerican named Sam Foster began mass producing cheap sunglasses that weredesigned to protect people’s eyes from the sun. These were snapped up by beachgoers in New Jersey and this period consequently saw a massive upsurge indemand for them. And so the dawn of sunglasses as a fashion accessory was uponus. By 1930, sunglasses were all the rage and anyone who wasanyone had to own a pair.

In 1936, sunglasses became polarized whenEdwin H. Land, founder of the Polaroid Corporation, invented the firstinexpensive filters capable of polarising light, Polaroid film. Around this time, even more Americans started buyingsunglasses. With famous stars of stage and music also wearing them, they werebecoming not only a way to protect eyes against the sun but also a way to look “cool”.Sunglasses had by now become a cultural phenomenon with some people even startingto wear them when it wasn’t sunny and sometimes even when they were indoors.According to popular belief though, sunglasses really became “cool” during the SecondWorld War, when wartime images of soldiers wearing sunglasses made them an inspirationalitem among young people the world over.

In the sixties, an ingenious advertisingcampaign by the comb and glass firm of Foster Grant “persuaded” fashiondesigners of the day, as well as Hollywood film stars to escalate the sunglasscraze and a giant industry was born, where only a few decades earlier noneexisted.  

With the ever increasing concerns over theeffects of the sun’s rays, the future of sunglasses looks assured. UVprotection is now an industry standard and there are sunglasses available for avariety of pursuits. The different lens tints available are numerous andsunglasses have changed styles many times over the years. Some prescription glasseshave also been given tints that only appear when the sun’s rays hit theglasses. Technology is certainly alive and well in the sunglass business andwho knows what we can expect in the future?

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