Today, sunglasses are one of the world’s most popular fashion accessories. Perfect for sunshine and snowfall, offering useful protection for our eyes, and the ideal addition to any look, sunglasses are worn by over 200 million Americans. Wholesale sunglasses are widely available in the 21st century from sellers like Olympic Eyewear. Sunglasses sure have come a long way since first being worn over two thousand years ago.
The Earliest Sunglasses
The first known use of something resembling sunglasses was in fact more akin to ‘snow-glasses’. In the modern age, skiers and snowboarders often wear sunglasses to protect their eyes from snow blindness. In ancient times, the Inuit peoples fashioned something similar. The indigenous people in the Arctic regions of North America called them nigaugek or igguag. It was often a strip of bone, ivory, antler, or wood, carved to form a strip that covered the eyes. There were small slits allowing the wearer to maintain vision without being blinded by the glare of the sun reflecting on the snow. According to modern research, they were remarkably effective. In his Natural History, Pliny the Elder wrote that Roman Emperor Nero would watch Gladiatorial fights through polished emeralds. This could have been to shield his eyes from the sun, or because Nero was near-sighted. An expensive, decadent, and largely ineffective early form of prescription sunglasses.
Sunglasses in The Middle Ages
Around the 12th century, sunglasses were worn in China. The lenses of these sunglasses were made from smoke-tinted quartz. They have the rough look of modern sunglasses, with the frames fashioned to hold themselves up against the user’s face. As with modern shades, they shielded the wearer from excessive sunlight. These primitive sunglasses served a dual purpose for some. In the courts of law in China, they were used by judges to hide facial emotion. This both prevented people from guessing their verdict as well as helping judges to appear emotionally detached during proceedings.
Fast forward to the mid-18th century and an optician in London named James Ayscough introduced spectacles with tinted lenses. He believed that tinted glasses, with green or blue glass, could help those with poor eyesight. These emerald tinted glasses were yet another step along the way to modern sunglasses. Later in the 1700s, the first tinted glasses that were intended specifically for protection against the sun’s rays were used in Italy. They were known as Goldoni glasses, named after playwright Carlo Goldoni, who popularized the frames. They were extremely popular among gondoliers in Venice, whose eyes needed protection while working on the canals in the sun.
20th Century Onwards
At the start of the 20th century, tinted glasses took on another use. Yellow and brown tinted lenses were prescribed to those with syphilis. One of the symptoms of syphilis is a sensitivity to light and as such darkened glasses help considerably. This association, however, would not last long, and in the 1920s celebrities, including the first movie stars, began to wear sunglasses. Not unlike the Chinese judges before them, early 20th-century sunglasses could be (and are still) used to hide a celebrity’s face to stop them from being recognized.
In 1929, mass production of sunglasses began in earnest thanks to Sam Foster, who sold sunglasses to beach-goers in Atlantic City. Aviator sunglasses were the next step in sunglasses technology, helping pilots’ vision in World War 2. The Polaroid Corporation introduced Polaroid lenses, protecting eyes against harmful UV rays for the first time. Celebrity endorsement from the likes of James Dean and Marilyn Monroe in the 50s and 60s increased popularity, which has continued to this day.
