From Light to Shades: The History of Sunglasses
Have you seen poker players wearing sunglasses indoors? They do it to hide their eyes from their opponents, masking those barely perceptible expressions that reveal their thoughts. This seemingly modern application is in fact how sunglasses got their start eight hundred years ago. The earliest record of tinted glasses dates from the thirteenth century. Chinese judges used them to mask their eyes in court. Like poker players today, the judges wore them only indoors. Adding attractive color to the glass naturally fell to the Italians, who believed color both looked fashionable and aided vision. To this date, it is the Italians who best pull off the most outrageous colors. To find the first use of sunglasses in the sun, you have to wait around until the 1920s. As the military began venturing into the Pacific and its brutal, unforgiving glare, they began experimenting with both sunscreens and sunglasses. Shortly thereafter, a man named Foster Grant took a few pairs to the beaches of Atlantic City and brightened his own future. By the 1930s, sunglasses were the rage. |  |
Airplane pilots were given scientifically designed, teardrop-shaped shades tinted a special green, which best filtered high-altitude light. Lens scientists at Polaroid soon invented "polarized" glass, which further reduced glare. During World War II, anything that looked good on a pilot became a fashion, and the aviator sunglasses style, which banned the sun's rays, fostered the Ray-Ban sunglasses empire.
Those wearing designer sunglasses seemed more mysterious and enigmatic, and it didn't take Madison Avenue and Hollywood long to capitalize on this perception. Soon every actress "hid" behind the latest fashion, and every model in TV and print was shady. There was an allure to hiding those eyes.
If the eyes are windows to the soul, some would hide that too. Like the Chinese judges eight centuries ago, poker players want to keep their thoughts a secret, and in the age of competitive poker, sunglasses have come full circle as a way to keep prying eyes out.