I’m currently in the market for new glasses as my current ones are few years old and are starting to show wear and tear, so I did what everyone does these days and I headed to the web for inspiration. It was there that I started to see many fantastic vintage print ads for women’s eyeglasses from 1940s & 1950s and they were so wonderful that I just had to share them for today’s post.
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Vintage Eyewear Advertising
From the 1940’s & 1950’s
1943-The Original Cat Eye Glasses. No need to look owlish, bookish, or just plain dull anymore!
Source: Flickr
1947 Vintage Victory Eyewear-Golden Honey Frame.
Source: Pinterest
1955 women’s Harlequin eyewear discussing how you can try on the glasses in the comfort of your own home (what a novel idea!).
Source: eBay
1956 better vision institute milady’s eyes vintage eyeglasses ad. Love the arms on these glasses.
Source: eBay
“How to look glamorous in glasses”-1959
Source: Pinterest
Glamour Glasses-1954. Designed as fashion accessories rather than functional. Indeed Glamorous!
Source: Pinterest
As many of us know, music influences fashion and Be-Bop was no different.
Bebop is a style of jazz that developed in the 1940s and is characterized by improvisation, fast tempos, rhythmic unpredictability, and harmonic complexity (source).
Source: Beboplashes
1959 FLAIRSPECS women’s Continental design angel cateye eyeglasses frames ad.
Source: eBay
1959 Eyeglass styles- Miss Exec comes back better than ever.
“Match the colour of your eyewear with the costume of your choice”. They are a single frame with interchangable jewel-like tops that are available in ten fashion approved colours. OMG YES! I love this idea!
Source: Pinterest
Schiaparelli-1950s. Match your eyewear to the Season, in this ad it’s the Christmas season. I’m in!
Source: Flickr
Frame your eyes in High Fashion. Wear them to the Theatre and Cocktails and wear them to glamorize business.
Source: Pinterest
These glasses suit this model so well! The 1950s hair, the pearls, the red lips…stunning ad.
After putting together this post, I realized that in the 1950s companies who sold eyeglasses, were on a big push to make them exactly like the 1943 ad above stated…”less bookish”. Wear glasses and you will be just as glamorous as your non eyeglass wearing friends. I think this is why the designs were pretty decorative as well, to match the marketing message that was being put out there.
In today’s world though, eyewear is a fashion statement and people are wearing them even if they don’t need them (lucky them!). So the advertising can really take any turn that a company wants (all depends on who their target is).
In the market for some vintage eyewear yourself? Check out websites like Etsy for what your looking for (Note: If they are no longer avail just do a quick search. Etsy is updated with 1000’s of new products daily).
Women’s 1960s Cat Eye glasses in black, made in France by Selecta Optical (avail as of May 3rd, 2023 HERE).
Source: Etsy
Vintage 1950s Aluminum Rose Gold Cat Eye Glasses.
Source: Etsy
Woman’s 1950s / 1960s beautifully etched cat eye eyeglasses frame.
Source: Etsy
Vintage 1940s Woman Clubmaster Cat Eyes Eyeglasses – Black and Gold.
Source: Etsy
1950s vintage eyeglasses-beautiful pair of ladies Zylite eyeglasses frame with beautiful decorative brows and temples.
Source: Etsy
Here is a photo of yours truly in my newest pair of vintage style glasses from CLEARLY.
QUESTION TIME: Do you wear glasses? If so, would you wear the styles pictured above? Share in the comment below.
FURTHER READING:
- ‘Women who wear Eyeglasses” – fantastic real life photos of ladies in spectacles.
- Vintage Advertising 1920s-1960s (Archived blog posts)
Liz