How long have we been wearing sunglasses?

How long have we been wearing sunglasses?
How long have we been wearing sunglasses?
Anonim

According to some sources, the Chinese were the first to hold colored lenses in front of their eyes, others say that we owe the appearance of sunglasses to the ancient Romans, just as they were the first to wear bikinis. How did sunglasses become an everyday accessory? Just like swimwear, the evolution of sunglasses was not so simple either. Although, unlike the bikini, at the time of the explosion of glasses, social and moral rules did not slow down, but prevented its spread.

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The Chinese did not want to protect their eyes from harmful UV rays, but attributed magical power to tinted lenses, but the Romans knew no joke when it came to the sun: according to records, they really hated squinting in the sun. So the Romans gave us this too.

According to the sources, after a while the emperors of the ancient Roman Empire were satisfied that the sun hurt their eyes and they couldn't see anything from the gladiator fight in the Colosseum, so Emperor Nero threw the ball in order to protect his eyes, someone among his subjects should find something solution to your problem, after all, watching a match (gladiator fight or beach volleyball) squinting is less enjoyable than without squinting. The inventor certainly didn't mince it. He didn't want to protect his emperor's eyes with a relatively easy-to-make baseball cap, but started experimenting with emeralds, using them to make a lens that filters sunlight and can even see through it. Well, let's not imagine a Ray Ban, but a polished, cut emerald, because it filters the sunlight. So the emperor didn't go blind while the gladiators killed each other in front of him during prime time.

According to another source, the use of cut, sunlight-filtering crystals also spread in the ancient Roman Empire, the difference is that, according to this source, the emperors did not wear emeralds before their eyes, but the soldiers of the empire used transparent, but darker colored cut crystals. The concept was relatively simple: a soldier who can see is better than a blind soldier.

With the fall of the Roman Empire, we can see a big blind spot in the history of sunglasses, which is relatively understandable, since it was followed by the Dark Ages, after which, however, in the Age of Enlightenment, the interest in glasses received more attention, but even then it was not disturbed by the humanity is so exposed to the sun that they stand in the way with tinted lenses or darker cut crystals on their noses.

The big breakthrough is the XX. occurred at the beginning of the 20th century, when the first glasses with tinted lenses were made. But it seems that at that time people had enough problems and a lot of other things to do, so the campaign was left behind, and we had to wait until the Second World War for sunglasses to start their conquering journey.

At that time, the strong UV radiation made it very difficult for the pilots of the US Air Force to fly, so the US Air Force placed the order: they wanted a solution that was comfortable and protected the pilots from harmful rays and strong light. The first series of sunglasses for pilots was soon ready. Hot pilots and General Douglas MacArthur made sunglasses really popular. MacArthur popularized tinted lenses as Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific by constantly speaking to the press wearing sunglasses.

There was no stopping after the war. American soldiers were heroes, and anyone who wore sunglasses could become one too. That's when James Dean came into the picture - more precisely, onto the screen: he was the first actor to wear sunglasses on a set. Then came John Lennon with his round and Elton John with his amazing sunglasses, which thanks to mass production can now be purchased by anyone, unlike Emperor Nero's emeralds. Sunglasses became an indispensable accessory for the 70s. It was born from the marriage of fashion, war, hippies and ophthalmologists, and it conquered the whole world from Timbuktu to Guatemala.

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