Very Vintage, yet Futuristic Celluloid Sunglasses
Three pairs of celluloid sunglasses, circa 1930s, France.
As a collector, sometimes if something was cool I’d pick up more than one.
Such was the case with these French celluloid sunglasses from the 1930s.
Celluloid Sunglasses circa 1930s, France.
Both frame front and lens are one piece with temples cut from the same material, presaging the polycarbonate wraps of 30 to 40 years later.
Funny thing is they didn’t look nearly as out of place in the 1930s as one might expect:
Woman in celluloid sunglasses, circa 1930s.
The only problem was they warped and scratched very easily. Polycarbonate would, indeed, be a welcome step forward.
Seems someone in Marchon has been inspired by these to design the Marni Spectrum sunglasses!
Just Googled them.
Wow.
Hi there, I can’t find a contact button anywhere so I’m just leaving a comment in the hope that you see it 🙂 Do your pairs have any markings on them? I have found a pair that say ‘NON INFLAMMABLE, BREVETTE S.G.D.G. MADE IN FRANCE’ on the inside of one of the temples. I wan’t convinced that my pair were actually old until I saw that so now I’m confused :/ Do yours have sort of roughish edges? I would appreciate any help you can give me. Very Best Wishes! 🙂
As I recall, the frames pictured in this post didn’t have markings. The non-inflammable marking on yours suggests yours aren’t made of celluloid. They’re probably made later than these, after the manufacturers realized flammability was an issue with celluloid, but still quite old, though. Hard to say without seeing them. (And as the posts above yours suggest, apparently the style is still pretty current.)
Here’s a blog post explaining why the non-inflammable revision was important:
http://theeyewearblog.com/eyewear-as-cause-of-death/