1960s Op-Art Sunglasses
A group of 9 Op-Art sunglasses, circa 1966
Fashion cycles went quickly and differed radically from year to year during the 1960s. I’ll admit I have a fondness for much of the design of the era. I still marvel at pictures of the 1964 World’s Fair in Flushing New York. I’ve always liked Modernism with Jetsons overtones.
For a couple years it seemed like everything was geometric, from the shapes of buildings to the shapes of women’s hairstyles to the shapes of sunglasses.
In 1965 the Museum of Modern Art in New York had a well publicized Op-Art exhibition and for some reason it had incredible traction in the world of eyewear.
Cover of 1966 Ray Ban catalogue. The influence of the 1965 MoMA Op-Art show is obvious.
Even as these styles were being made I suspect everybody realized they’d become dated quickly, but it didn’t matter. In those days it was O.K. for sunglasses to be made to be fashionable for only a brief window of time. They were inexpensive enough for people to buy them without thinking twice.
Things are different now.
More thoughts on this point to follow…
Thank God that everything is dated in our day pf age.
Not only dated but already obsolete!
I just bought op art sunglasses (1966?) with no temples, just a length of chain on each side ending in an op art disk. The chains go over the ears and the disks have enough weight to hold the glasses in place. Surprisingly comfortable, and oh so cool!!!
I featured a pair of those in my book. There’s a blog post here about Gerald Ford glasses, which also had the chain and earrings. I’m sure they look well on you.