The role of eyewear in the fashion of today is well understood by patients and opticians alike, but this hasn’t always been the case.
William Hardy’s the ‘The new concept of frames’ article from the May 28 issue of Optician from 1965 documents the way that patients and opticians views on frames were changing at the time – albeit with an air of scepticism.
‘What may appeal to us a superficial change applied to a basic design, may appeal to members of the spectacle wearing public as an attractive innovation,’ said Hardy.
Detailing the early stages of glasses, Hardy said the first significant move to an appreciation of glasses came with the advent of gold filled glasses, but even then, he says this more down to an appreciation for the gold in what was a materialistic time.
Glasses became more conspicuous after World War One, with fewer people choosing to hide them away with the slightest pretext, but it was when plastic colouring was invented and advances in plastic manufacturing that glasses started to get a foothold in the public’s psyche.
‘This may dismay some opticians who ascribe to the new public attitude towards seeing aids to factors other than style in frames,’ said Hardy.
The new found desire for fashion frames was quickly noticed by the mainstream media at the time and Hardy recalled an article by a well-travelled fashion editor’s, whose belief that British women showed a greater diversity of attractively-styled glasses than anywhere else – including France, Germany and the United States.
It would be hard to say something similar today.