What is the history of horn rimmed glasses?

Answers (2)

• MELODY

  07/16/2012

  Horn-rimmed glasses are a type of eyeglasses with frames made of horn, tortoise shell, or plastic that simulates either material. The name horn-rimmed glasses refer to their original material, which was horn or shell. These glasses began to be popular in the United States in the 1910s and 1920s, and have been a standard for many decades. Over time, the glasses changed appearance and meaning. Later, they were known as dark, heavy, and plastic framed glasses. An early plastic, celluloid, was dyed and molded to look like an animal horn. The glasses continued to be popular through the 1930s, and enjoyed a renaissance in the 1950s when musician Buddy Holly wore a series of large, bulky square pairs on tour and on his album covers. This style—dominantly in black, although also available in varying shades of tortoiseshell—remained popular from the late 1950s until the 1970s, when large, steel aviator frames became popular. Round horn-rimmed glasses came back into fashion in the 1980s, with tortoiseshell being fashionable amongst intelligent, capital-driven entrepreneurs and a white variant being popular amongst new wave musicians and new wave fans. Weezer front man Rivers Cuomo has been known to wear Horn-rims. Horn-rimmed glasses fell back out of fashion in the mid 1990s, but returned to popularity at the end of the decade and have remained fashionable since.[citation needed] Modern horn-rimmed glasses have tended to be thinner than in previous decades and are smaller vertically. Source: http://www.e-volontaires.org/blog.php?user=oeivse¬e=2489

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• Angelica giles

  07/16/2012

  horn rimmed glasses are originally made out of either horn or tortoise shell, for most of their history they have actually been constructed out of thick plastics designed to imitate those materials. They are characterized by their bold appearance on the wearer's face, in contrast to metal frames, which appear less pronounced. Horn-rimmed glasses were one of the first style of eyeglasses to become a popular fashion item, after comedian Harold Lloyd began wearing a round pair in his films. The glasses have enjoyed various periods of popularity throughout the 20th century, being considered especially fashionable in the early 1900s and in the 1950s–1960s in particular. The style enjoyed a renaissance in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, with influence from the emo and hipster subcultures, which embraced geek chic; and from the television series Mad Men, which repopularized 1960s fashions in general.

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