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70s Glasses Guide: Top Picks for Retro Frames

Written By Kara Keigan

As the weather starts getting cooler, you may want to embrace a season of new trends. This season is rife with inspiration, but it isn’t exactly new. Retro-inspired trends have started creeping into our wardrobes. From flare jeans to knee-high boots to leather button-front skirts, it’s clear what decade we are getting our fashion inspiration from this fall. And it isn’t stopping there! Retro 70s glasses provide a great accessory for this season.

Many of these bold 70s glasses aren’t for the faint of heart. Fun-loving statement frames are here to help you stand out from the crowd. Instead of demure cat-eye shapes or translucent frames, we’re reaching for oversized square frames, new takes on aviator styles, and yellow-tinted lenses.

The 70s were the years that officially began to consider glasses as fashion accessories rather than just a necessary addition to help you see. The decade was rich in experiments of all kinds that led to modern eyewear and current trends.

That’s why you can flip through a 70s graduation book, admire the eccentric styles, and want to try them on for a cool new/old look. The years were filled with extravagant shapes, different materials, and rich earthy colors. Here are three retro 70s glasses styles to try out to embrace the peace and love era for all its worth.

Aviator Sunglasses: Why This Classic Style Still Endures

Written By Kara Keigan

Aviator sunglasses debuted in 1937 but gained notoriety five years later when General Douglas MacArthur landed on the beach in the Philippines.

A photo of the MacArthur wearing the aviator-style shades was splashed across the front page of newspapers everywhere. It became the go-to “wartime” look for Hollywood productions.

But it wasn’t fashion only that inspired pilots, policemen, and sportsmen to gravitate to the style. Aviator sunglasses did the job.

A little aviator history…

Bausch & Lomb was originally asked by the U.S. Army Air Corps to design sunglasses for pilots to prevent sun glare because they found it often caused nausea and headaches. The result were sunglasses originally called “anti-glares,” since they were intended to ban rays of sun. They were rebranded as “Ray-Ban” when they were released.

Vintage Frames: 5 Old-School Glasses Still On-Trend Today

Written By Shorey Andrews

Vintage frames have become trendy again! And as trends evolve, we often forget where they came from in the first place. Eyeglasses started to take shape in Europe around the 12th century and have certainly come a long way since.

In the beginning, eyewear was a practical and necessary means for those who had trouble reading. In the 1930s, people who wore glasses were often subjected to social embarrassment. It wasn’t until the late ‘60s that eyewear found its proper place in the fashion world, with stylish designs beginning to take shape.

Let’s have a look at how some of today’s most popular frames have stood the test of time.

Horn-Rimmed Vintage Frames

Horn-rimmed vintage frames are a common choice for glasses-wearers of all ages, but that wasn’t always the case. When they first came on the scene in the ‘20s, they quickly lost their appeal due to their lack of durability. Instead, metal frames became a more economical choice during the Depression. The evolution and subsequent popularity of horn-rimmed frames grew with the expansion of metal browlines in the ‘50s and oversized designs by the 2000s.