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Eyewear Throughout the Ages

June 20, 2025
Eyewear Throughout the Ages

Not only are glasses a necessary medical tool, but they are also a great way to showcase your style and personality. Throughout the ages, we've seen iconic styles worn by celebrities as well as everyday spectacle wearers. Taking a look back through the history of eyewear can provide some fun fashion inspiration for your next glasses purchase (and some good laughs!).

Origins

The first wearable glasses originated in Italy in the early 13th century. Glass blowers made these lenses and set them in leather, wood, or sometimes animal horn rims. Wearers had to hold the glasses or pinch them on their noses to keep them in place.

Bifocals
Bifocals

Hands free

Benjamin Margin created the first hands-free frames when he made the extended temple arm to go behind the ear. People called them "Martin's Margins". They began pursuing more durable and stylish eyewear options for the coming years. We can't forget about Benjamin Franklin, the inventor of the ubiquitous bifocal lens. These allowed the wearer to have corrected distance and near vision all in one lens.

The origins of prescription glasses
The origins of prescription glasses

1800s - Utilitarian

In the 1800s, prescriptions became increasingly more and more accurate. Finally, in the 1900s, the eyewear industry took a turn toward focusing on both vision quality as well as fashion.

Basic eyeglasses
Basic eyeglasses

1900s- New styles

Theodore Roosevelt popularized the pince-nez spectacles, which stayed put with a nose clip. Aviator-style glasses and sunglasses were popular during WWII, as pilots used them during the war. Cat eye frames were invented in the 1930s and popularized by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Browline glasses
Browline glasses

Mid-century to 1990s

Shuron Ronsirs created browline frames in 1947, and they were iconically worn by figures such as Malcolm X and Bruce Willis. In the 1980s, the trend was oversized spectacles and bright, flashy colors. On the other hand, the 1990s was known for small, rectangular frames in both plastic in metal.

Simple, modern glasses
Simple, modern glasses

New technology in the 2000s

In the 2000s, we created completely rimless glasses. People such as Steve Jobs and Sarah Palin wore these with an heir of sophistication. These days, people of all ages and cultures wear each of these styles.

Newer style eyeglasses
Newer style eyeglasses

Every era of glasses style has seen a resurgence in the recent decade, giving glasses wearers the option to explore many styles, colors, shapes, and lens options. Now, thanks to the affordable online glasses industry, you can try all sorts of different frames and find what expresses your unique style and personality.

Trendy Cat Eye Frames
Trendy Cat Eye Frames