When you live under the scorching Australian heat, nothing is more necessary than having a nice pair of sunglasses to protect your eyes. Furthermore, they are essential all year round, not only during the summer. Aside from protecting their eyes from the dangerous UV rays of the sun, Australian men’s sunglasses have established themselves as a fashion industry must-have item as well as a protective accessory. A simple dress may be transformed into something elegant, fashionable, and sophisticated with accessories. They have an exciting history that includes how they got so famous and the numerous trends emphasised in the decades. Furthermore, while several trademark designs characterise the sunglass fashion of this decade, men can still carry off many of the previous trends with ease, which is even more intriguing.
A Brief Overview of the History of Sunglasses
Although the notion of sunglasses existed as far back as the 12th century, when Roman emperors battled gladiators while wearing flat polished jewels to decrease the sun’s brightness, they only became trendy in the 1900s when they were popular in the United States. In 1971, Australia announced the world’s first national standards for sunglasses, which have since been revised numerous times to incorporate newer safety standards and technological advances in the field, such as UV protection, as well as newer safety standards. Now, let’s get right into some of the most classic men’s sunglasses that characterised the era and continue to make a statement to this day.
Round frames from the 1920s
In the beginning, sunglasses for men had a basic circular form with wired rims, which was one of the oldest styles. They were little, fit precisely over the eyes, and performed exactly what they intended to do: shield the eyes from the sun. By approximately 1929, when Sam Foster began selling them to beachgoers, they had started to gain in popularity as a fashion statement in their own right. In the twenty-first century, it is still believed to have had a significant impact on many manufacturers and designers.
Funky Frames from the 1930s to the 1940s
Because of the growing popularity of sunglasses, more manufacturers began to emerge throughout this decade, each of whom sought to differentiate themselves from the competition by offering something distinctive to consumers. As a result, different designs were created with spherical sunglasses with thick frames and colours. Even now, adventurous fashionistas may be spotted attending parties and gatherings with frames with unusual designs and colours.
The 1950s saw the beginning of the era of the Wayfarer Ray.
Ben & Jerry launched the distinctive Wayfarer-shaped sunglasses in 1956, and they were an immediate success. Their popularity mainly was restricted to males at the time because of the perception that they gave the wearer “a macho appearance.” These days, every sunglasses enthusiast has at least a couple of pairs of Wayfarers in their collection since they look well on people of every face shape and gender. Many prominent celebrities and activists of the period wore browline spectacles, which were also quite fashionable at the time.
The 1960s to the 1970s: The Ascension of Squares and Aviators
Men’s sunglasses in the 1960s were solid black glasses with square frames, even though women had more options for designs and forms such as cat-eye and squared. In the 1970s, Bausch & Lomb developed a pair of sunglasses to assist pilots in protecting themselves from the sun, which became known as the Aviators. The disco music style was credited with developing large, brightly coloured dance floor decorations that could be seen even during the night.
Many of these styles enjoyed a resurgence in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, but somewhat different variants. The year is 2020, and sunglasses for men in Australia have many designs influenced by these legendary types, which are readily accessible at retail locations around the country.