Eyewear fashions in the 20th century

The fact that eyewear fashions were restricted almost completely to small eyeshapes right into the 1950s was not so much a question of a fashion philosophy, but rather one of limited technical possibilities and the high costs of the lenses. The first real new fashion was the butterfly frame for women as worn by Marilyn Monroe in "How to marry a millionaire".

A whole new world of material design was opened up by the use of aluminium and celluloid. France produced a completely new trend: rimless frames.

The 1960s saw a variety of new shapes - lens size was no longer so important. The end result of this development: the huge frames of the 1970s. Another main fashion direction comprises rimless frames in all variations, often with tinted lenses and bevelled, polished rims. It was the development of plastic lenses made of CR 39 which made this trend possible. Plastic frames in sometimes incredible colour combinations began to enter the market. A minor role was played by natural materials such as buffalo horn or tortoise shell, primarily because of the high cost. Nana Mouskouri is still recognised today because of her spectacles, but hardly anyone knows how valuable her glasses are - simply because of the material.

Eyewear fashions took on a calmer look towards the ends of the 1980s. Trends such as "neo-simplicity" and "reduced design" come to the fore. Retro-models with styles reminiscent of the 1950s come onto the market, together with filigree rimless models. Plastic becomes almost extinct and only starts to become popular again towards the end of the 1990s.

New technical possibilities lead to a wide range of light and thin-rimmed frames which are almost invisible on the face and which are pleasant to wear. The new materials at the end of the millennium are titanium, flexible beta titanium and stainless steel.

Eyewear has become a fashion area - characterised by the world's most famous fashion designers. Designer labels are now an integral part of eyewear fashions.