- Raquel Welch for Foster Grant
DALLAS, Nov 16, 2011/ — Summer might be over but our need to wear sunglasses continues. Contrary to popular belief, sunglasses are worn year-round, not just during the summer.
Case in point, the Inuit’s snow goggles, (the precursor of sunglasses) were worn by the Native Alaskans to protect their eyes from the harmful effect of reflected sunlight from the snow. Created using flattened walrus ivory, the snow goggles function by reducing exposure to sunlight not by reducing intensity.
Of course, things have changed since then. In fact, modern sunglasses actually are offshoots from the development of reading glasses. While the precursor of the modern reading glasses is the magnifying glass developed by glass blowers in Italy circa 1000 A.D., it was not until 1285 – 1289 that Italian monks in Pisa, Italy produced the first modern eyeglasses.
It will be 400 years later when in 1730 London optician Edward Scarlett would introduce rigid temples that rest atop the wearer’s ears followed by London medical instruments designer James Ayscough designing spectacles with double-hinged temples in 1752.
And though he was not concerned about modernizing the sunglasses, it was also Ayscough who introduced green and blue tinted lenses to reduce glare.
The 18th and 19th centuries were boons to modernization of eyeglasses. American Benjamin Franklin invented bifocal lenses in 1784; the monocle was introduced in 1800 in England; Englishman Sir George Airy designs the first lenses to correct astigmatism in 1825; and the trifocal lens was invented in 1826 by John Hawkins.
Today, thanks to these pioneering men, prescription eyeglasses and optical lenses are available to almost everyone thanks to national chains like Lens Crafters, Pearl Vision and WarbyParker discount prescription glasses.
As the making of eyeglasses advanced with the development of technology, the sunglasses greatly benefited from it also. And though its primary function was to protect the eyes from UV rays, sunglasses became a fashion item with the advent of Hollywood.
And no, Virginia, the stars of the silver screen in the early 1900s were not donning sunglasses to hide from their era’s equivalent of the paparazzi. The actors and actresses wear sunglasses when not filming because they usually have red eyes, a result from the use of arc lights in the studio.
Still, it will not be until 1929 that sunglasses would finally become a fashion item. Sam Foster, founder of the famed Foster Grant sunglasses began selling in the beaches of Atlantic City, New Jersey. This event gave birth to the onset of how we use sunglasses today – beauty and function.
And though Foster Grant was the harbinger of what was to come, gaining itself a place in history, it was Ray-Ban that made sunglasses a star.
Created in 1936, the idea of Ray-Ban came from Lieutenant John A. Macready who upon retrunign from a balloon flying adventure complained that the sun had permanently damaged his eyes. He contacted Bausch & Lomb asking them to create sunglasses that would provide protection and also look elegant. On May 7, 1937, Bausch & Lomb took out the patent and Ray-Ban was born.
With the U.S. military adopting it and the advent of World War II, Ray Ban became an instant success with General Douglas McArthur as its de facto poster boy.
With Foster Grant and Ray-Ban as innovators and pioneers, the whole world became enamored with sunglasses. Today, designer sunglasses are fashionista must have while serious sunglasses aficionados think of Oakley and Warby Parker.
