Cat-eye glasses
The frames with upswept corners that made glasses a women’s fashion accessory.
The artist Altina Schinasi thought women’s glasses were dull. Inspired by the masks of the Italian Harlequin tradition, she drew a frame with upswept corners, which the department store Lord & Taylor began selling at the end of the 1930s.
The form became the symbol of 1950s women’s fashion and was worn by film stars. For the first time glasses became an ornament one wanted to show off.
Materials: Acetate, often with rhinestones or metal details
Manufacture: Made by many firms from the late 1930s and above all in the 1950s.
The outer corners sweeping upwards.
The frame heavier at the top.
Rhinestone or metal decoration in the corners.