Sunglasses
of the 1960s fell into at least two distinct groupings
of styles. On the one hand, the sixties counterculture
produced a wide proliferation of fun, colorful styles
of sunglasses but which were, in general, inexpensively
crafted and sold for modest prices attainable for
the youth of the period. Teashades was the terms
used to describe typically wire rim sunglasses that
were embellished in various ways by the psychedelic
art of the period. Also referrred to as "John
Lennon glasses" or "Ozzy glasses"
after Ozzy Osbourne, teashades grew progressively
more popular over the years of the 1960's and the
growth of the anti-war movement. The original teashade
design featured perfectly round lenses that trended
small to medium in diameter which were supported
by celluloid nose pads to support them and a thin
wire frame for the ear stems. From there, teashades
evolved into all the colors of the rainbow and shapes
never before envisioned as the original style was
embellished with multi-colored and mirrored lenses
and sizes which grew progressively oversized. The
vintage 60's sunglasses in this grouping did not
focus on high quality materials nor on advanced
lens technologies to better protect the eyes. Rather,
they were meant as a fashion statement of the times
and usually worn for purely aesthetic purposes.
For example, the "LOVE" glasses of the
1960's were impractical and had little real effect
as sunglasses, and yet they became widely popular
in the later years of the decade and, for that matter,
are still widely reproduced today. Celebrities and
rock stars of the 1960's favored teashades and their
variants because they looked good and tended to
make a social statement. Celebrities in the sixties
who were seldom photographed or filmed not wearing
vintage teashdade style sunglasses include John
Lennon (The Beatles), Mick Jagger (Rolling Stones),
Jerry Garcia (Grateful Dead), Roger Daltrey (The
Who), and Ozzy Osbourne (Black Sabbath).
At the same
time, companies such as Bausch & Lomb and their
Ray-Ban group were pioneering ever more advanced
and innovative lens technologies that provided complete
UV protection and performance in their sunglasses
- and while not forsaking style. Aviator sunglasses,
first introduced by Ray-Ban in 1937 in response
to demand from the U.S. military for high performance
sunglasses for pilots, became mainstream in the
1960's. While vintage aviators have always been
popular with pilots, military, and law enforcement
personnel, the sixties saw them widely adopted by
people of all ages - in general, the antithesis
of the counterculture movement that was adopting
much more extreme sunglass styles such as teashades.
To be current with the times, Ray-Ban aviators began
to be produced with lenses other than the classic
B&L G-15 green lens. The company introduced
B-15 brown and highly reflective mirrored lenses
for their classic aviators, and sunglasses with
specialty lenses were introduced for hunters and
outdoorsmen (shooter sunglasses, Kalichrome C yellow
lenses), ambermatic sunglasses (suitable for all
light conditions), and Changeables (photochromatic
lenses which quite literally change color as you
go from indoor to outdoor light conditions). These
much more practical sunglasses that really protected
the eyes were diametrically opposite in style and
purpose from the teashades and the sunglasses of
the 60's hippie counterculture. Other mainstream
manufacturers of high quality sunglasses during
the sixties included Persol and Neostyle, whose
Neostyle Nautic 2 was the oversized style popularized
by Elvis Presley. The mineral glass lenses that
were used by the higher quality brands of this period
had excellent optical quality but they suffered
the disadvantage of being fairly heavy.
For a combination
of quality and style in sunglasses that came of
age in the sixties, none is better known and loved
than the classic Ray-Ban Wayfarer. Wayfarers are
a plastic framed design for sunglasses first introduced
by B&L Ray-Ban in 1952 but widely popularized
in the 1960's. Wayfarer sunglasses feature trapezoidal
lenses which are wider at the top than the bottom
and give them their distinctive retro style. Wayfarers
were worn by James Dean and a few other celebrities
in the late 1950's, but they became wildly popular
in the 1960's and were seen on a variety of faces
from Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 movie Breakfast
At Tiffany's to folk singers and musicians such
as Bob Dylan who loved to hide behind their dark
lenses. In the later years of the 1960's, B&L
Ray-Ban began producing Wayfarers in colors beyond
the original black and tortoise shell styles, many
of which are still produced today by the company
albeit with different construction and with the
Ray-Ban brand now owned by the conglomerate Luxottica.
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