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- [00:01]
Dr. Stephen Oppenheimer
Well, I moved to California from Ohio.
- [00:05]
Narrator
The year was 1973, and Dr. Oppenheimer had just moved to LA.
- [00:11]
Dr. Stephen Oppenheimer
I was in a little teeny office on Hollywood and Vine, and one day somebody came in my office and said, are you an eye doctor? And I said, yes. He said, well, can you help me?
- [00:23]
Narrator
This stranger had a problem. It turned out he was a Hollywood producer, and he was working on a scene where there would be an image of a letter that was and would become clear as the actor put on glasses. He figured he would go across the street and ask the local eye doctor how to do it.
- [00:41]
Dr. Stephen Oppenheimer
I said, well, that's really easy to do. He said, well, can you come over and talk to the cinematographer? So I went across the street, I talked to the cinematographer, and I told him, very simple. All you do is this, this, and this. So he said, oh, thank you so much. What's your name?
- [00:57]
Narrator
And so Dr. Stephen Oppenheimer became the eye doctor that the movie people called, and not just for camera tricks.
- [01:04]
Dr. Stephen Oppenheimer
So about six months later, I had my own office. We got a call one day. It was this guy. He said, I've been looking for you. I got a problem. I gotta get a pair of glasses for Kate Jackson. And I said, who's that? Kate Jackson, Charlie's Angels. And Kate Jackson wanted a pair of glasses so that she could walk out and go to the grocery store and not be recognized.
- [01:25]
Narrator
But why couldn't they just go to, you know, a sunglasses, huh?
- [01:29]
Dr. Stephen Oppenheimer
Well, you don't know how Hollywood works. There wasn't a Sunglass hut in those days. So he said, you gotta come out to the studio and please bring some glasses. So I put some sunglasses in the case and I went to the studio.
- [01:43]
Narrator
It started with the TV shows with Kate Jackson. Soon thereafter, Farrah Fawcett. And then eventually, Dr. Oppenheimer was procuring and fitting the sunglasses for Dean Martin, Tony Curtis, Faye Dunaway. He did several movies for Stallone, he did Beetlejuice. And extremely notably, Dr. Oppenheimer put Tom Cruise in those Ray Bans for Risky Business. This side job, putting sunglasses on the stars, got so successful that Dr. Oppenheimer had to hire a second doctor to take over at the practice because Dr. Oppenheimer was on set. I met Dr. Oppenheimer in a tiny conference room in Virginia beach, where about a dozen eye doctors, a few supportive spouses, and one podcaster were all gathered for the annual meeting of the Ocular Heritage Society.
- [02:28]
Dr. Stephen Oppenheimer
John is going to talk first, and then Chuck will be next.
- [02:32]
Narrator
Dr. Oppenheimer talked about how he put Hollywood stars in some of the most iconic shades of the 1970s and 80s.
- [02:37]
Dr. Stephen Oppenheimer
I had a good time making glasses for the movies.
- [02:40]
Narrator
And another doctor showed off his vast collection of pince Nez. Another presenter gave an elaborate presentation speculating about Winston Churchill's eyeglasses. These were the true geeks of the eyewear world. These were the appreciators of all optical accessories. But if you happened to be at that Holiday Inn watching us as we shuffled out for sandwiches between talks, you would have no idea. But the glasses you're wearing, where are these from?
- [03:12]
Dr. Cheryl Mitchell
They're probably 10, 15 years old. I don't like to change. I'm not.
- [03:16]
Narrator
That's so funny. Everybody is keeping it fairly conservative. You would never know that this was a group of eyewear nerds. All of these optometrists, yes, even Hollywood's own Dr. Oppenheimer, were all wearing simple, understated, mostly wire frames. And they claimed to know nothing of fashion.
- [03:36]
Dr. John Dixon Salt
I had a patient who came in and she said, these are Mew MAU or MAU MAU. I had to look at them. I didn't know.
- [03:45]
Narrator
And yet at the same time, when Dr. Cheryl Mitchell's patient brought in these fancy miu Miu glasses, Dr. Mitchell immediately was like, oh, this looks like a pair of antique Chinese spectacles that I have in my own private, nerdy collection.
- [03:59]
Dr. John Dixon Salt
But the design and the way the frames are cut, they're Chinese spectacles. And she said, oh, really? I didn't know that.
- [04:04]
Narrator
There's an interest in fashion among everybody here.
- [04:07]
Dr. John Dixon Salt
Most of us here, it's not fashion. Most of it's history, to be honest with you. History and the science of vision, yeah, it's history.
- [04:15]
Narrator
But fashion is cyclical. And so if you know about the history of glasses, it gives you a leg up on eyewear trends going forward. Which is exactly how Dr. Oppenheimer was able to move from fitting glasses on movie stars to actually designing glasses for them.
- [04:31]
Dr. Stephen Oppenheimer
I designed the glasses, I had them made up.
- [04:34]
Narrator
It's just so amazing that you knew about the fashion, like, the style. Like, that's basically costume design.
- [04:39]
Dr. Stephen Oppenheimer
That's because I collected antiques, eyeglasses for many years.
- [04:45]
Narrator
Dr. Oppenheimer accidentally found himself in the business of cutting edge fashion. But honestly, all of these eye doctors did, like these ophthalmologists and optometrists simply have to think about style. Whether they like it or not, fashion.
- [05:01]
Dr. Cheryl Mitchell
Dictates what we've got to sell.
- [05:03]
Narrator
Dr. John Dixon Salt was visiting from the British counterpart, the ophthalmic antiques International Collectors Club.
- [05:08]
Dr. Cheryl Mitchell
That's the fashion. That's what they must have.
- [05:10]
Narrator
I'm kind of shocked that medically minded people are so taken by fashion in this way.
- [05:17]
Dr. Bazan
Well, it's forced on us.
- [05:19]
Narrator
Yes. Fashion is forced. Forced upon all of us, really. But I wager to say there hasn't been a medical device that has fallen prey to fashion's whims quite in the same way as has happened with glasses and particularly sunglasses. I mean, having stylish glasses actually becomes a medical necessity. Don't take my word for it. Listen to my very own eye doctor.
- [05:44]
Dr. Bazan
The fashion aspect there is key because if it doesn't look good, you're not going to wear it.
- [05:48]
Narrator
And I learned this the hard way because I found out that I have to wear this fashion accessory and I don't understand how something like that happens. After the break.
- [06:05]
Caitlin Prest
Before we start, we want to recommend a beautiful season of the Heart from fellow radiotopian Caitlin Prest, who's known for exploring big questions, creating cinematic love stories from a feminist perspective. Caitlyn revisits no, a series produced on the eve of the Harvey Weinstein scandals about a topic that was supposed to be treated differently forevermore. In the series, we follow the story of a young girl navigating love, sex, and the word no and all of the men in her life she tried to say no to. Caitlyn addresses this difficult topic in a way that ends up being heartwarming, soul crushing, and funny at the same time. Check out the no series on the Heart everywhere you get podcasts It's July.
- [06:47]
Narrator
And I have been on my journey with Nutrafol for one month. Every morning I take four of their women's vegan supplements. You're supposed to notice changes in three months, like stronger, thicker hair, but I really notice less shedding. In a clinical study, 90% of women saw overall improvement in their hair after taking Nutrafol women's hair growth supplement for six months. And it's not just for women fellas. Purchase online, no prescription required. Nutrafol is the number one dermatologist recommended hair growth supplement brand trusted by over one and a half million people. Anything truly worthwhile takes time and effort, and with Nutrafol, see thicker, stronger, faster growing hair and less shedding in just three to six months. This summer, stop worrying about your hair and start making memories. For a limited time, Nutrapol is offering listeners $10 off your first month's subscription description and free shipping. When you go to nutrafol.com and enter promo code articles, find out why Nutrafol is the best selling hair growth supplement brand@nutrafol.com spelled n u t r a f o l.com promo code articles. That's nutrafol.com promo code articles. You know when it's so hot out and you're like, all I want to eat is ice cream. Well, the sartorial equivalent of that me is silk. All I want to wear is silk. Light, breezy, airy silk. It is like the ice cream of clothes. But even though I can't eat ice cream for every meal, I can actually wear silk every day. That's where Quince comes in. Quince is a maker of luxurious, high quality basics that are half the price of similar brands, including this life changing washable silk. Like, I got this silk skirt. It's beautiful. It's the sort of thing that I could dress up and wear to a wedding reception. And also knowing that I can just throw it in the wash, I could wear it out, I can get it messy. I can really live in these clothes that I thought were supposed to be saved for special occasions. Give your summer closet an upgrade with quints. Go to quince.com of interest for for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's quinceq u I n c e.com ofinterest to get free shipping and 365 day returns. I don't wear glasses, so I actually had never been to an eye doctor until my mid-30s when I was like, I guess I'm aging and should go get my eyes checked. So I went to this local eye doctor here in Brooklyn named Dr. Bazan.
- [09:28]
Dr. Bazan
So it's important to remember, even if you're seeing great, you want to make sure that your eyes are healthy. So I'm happy that you were here.
- [09:34]
Narrator
In my hubris, I was like, this should be pretty uneventful. Just like, show me the eye chart. I see just fine. But Dr. Bazan did a scan of my eye and told me that I sort of did need to start wearing glasses every day. Sunglasses.
- [09:46]
Dr. Bazan
It's important to be aware that you need to have your sunglasses when you step outside and you're going to be in the sun for more than 15, 20 minutes, regardless of the season.
- [09:55]
Narrator
If I'm ever gonna be outside at all for more than 15 minutes, I don't know.
- [10:01]
Dr. Bazan
Okay, so the whites of your eyes had a little spot of yellow on there. That little spot of yellow is early signs of sun damage. It's called the pinguecula.
- [10:09]
Narrator
It's like a tiny bump on the surface of my eye.
- [10:12]
Dr. Bazan
This little bump is raised so the tears don't do a great job of coating it and it's exposed to the environment. And that's where irritation can take place. If you don't use sunglasses, it will get worse.
- [10:22]
Narrator
How common is this?
- [10:24]
Dr. Bazan
It's super common, Especially people that grow up in sunny places and don't have sun protection on.
- [10:28]
Narrator
I wouldn't say that I grew up in a particularly sunny place, but it is true that I never really wore sunglasses. I was like, what's the point? I'm just going to lose them. Besides, it's fine. I'll just squint. And now I have developed a sensitive little pinwhacula that I have to protect, which means I have to get into the habit of wearing sunglasses. And, like, decent quality ones.
- [10:49]
Dr. Bazan
You usually want to make sure that you're not buying them off the street. You're buying them at your eye doctor or a reputable brand.
- [10:54]
Narrator
It's important that sunglasses actually have UV protection because dark lenses that don't have UV protection make your pupils dilate so they actually let in more UV light. Basically, wearing bad sunglasses is worse than wearing no sunglasses.
- [11:08]
Dr. Bazan
Everybody should be wearing sunglasses.
- [11:10]
Narrator
Is this like just kind of general advice you give to everyone?
- [11:15]
Dr. Bazan
Yes.
- [11:16]
Narrator
I thought I was special. I'm not special and neither is my pinguacula. And so, on doctor's orders, I found myself in the market for sunglasses. But then, as luck would have it, a very friendly branding person named Charlotte Cold emailed me to invite me to some new glasses shop of some company I'd never heard of before. And I was like, hmm, I wonder if they'll give me sunglasses.
- [11:40]
Tom Broughton
We're British brands.
- [11:41]
Narrator
I was like, okay.
- [11:42]
Tom Broughton
We actually have 18 stores in the UK and this is our second in New York. Tom, our founder's in the back, so. So I'll introduce you as well.
- [11:49]
Narrator
Okay. This is Tom. I don't know if you were planning on working right now. No, no, it's cool. We don't have to talk.
- [11:54]
Claire Goldsmith
Do you wear glasses?
- [11:55]
Narrator
I don't.
- [11:56]
Claire Goldsmith
Okay, well, one day you will.
- [11:58]
Narrator
And with that portention of doom, I met the founder of the glasses company, Cubitts, Tom Broughton.
- [12:04]
Claire Goldsmith
When you get to about 40, 45, the front of your cornea hardens and then you need reading glasses for the first time.
- [12:11]
Narrator
Tom, however, started wearing glasses young.
- [12:14]
Claire Goldsmith
I was like 14, 15. I was like, where's the frame that Johannis Cocker wears? Where's the frame that Morrissey wears? Then I got into VIN frames in my 20s and collected a lot of them. And they've got amazing design history. Glasses.
- [12:25]
Narrator
So many design elements of glasses, even the choices that seem purely aesthetic, were designed from a place of practicality.
- [12:31]
Claire Goldsmith
And a lot of the origins of frames comes from the lenses.
- [12:36]
Narrator
Like some of the earliest glasses were perfectly round circles, because when the lenses were made with heavy mineral glass, a little round eye was easiest to cut. But in the 30s, it was decided that the optimum shape for eye movement was something called the panto, which is.
- [12:50]
Claire Goldsmith
Short for pantoscopic, but it's a little bit wider at the top because how an eyeball moves within the socket. So when your eyeball moves, it moves.
- [12:57]
Narrator
In like a T shape or even little details, like what's called a keyhole bridge. Like when glasses have those jaunty little cutaways from the nose bridge.
- [13:04]
Claire Goldsmith
That was a kind of invention from post war, when they didn't have access to materials so they couldn't make new frames. So to get a frame to fit, they would literally cut a bit away so it could fit on.
- [13:17]
Narrator
On different noses.
- [13:18]
Claire Goldsmith
So a lot of the design features that we see now were born out of, like, necessity, as ever.
- [13:24]
Narrator
And it might seem clear that that necessity is to protect our eyes from the sun. But in early versions of sunglasses, they weren't really about sun protection.
- [13:34]
Claire Goldsmith
There's a person you should speak to called Neil Handley, who runs the College Optometry in London. He runs this. It's one of the very few optical museums in the world.
- [13:40]
Narrator
Tom raved about this cool place called the British Optical Association Museum at the College of Optometrists in London. How big is the collection?
- [13:47]
Dr. Cheryl Mitchell
Well, we have around 28,000 cataloged items in the collection, and the collection is growing by approximately seven or 800 items per year.
- [13:59]
Narrator
And in the collection that Dr. Neal Handley oversees, there are a number of early forerunners to the modern sunglasses. For example, there are these Inuit eye covers. They're made out of bone, and they have slits over the eyes. And if you look through those slits, it cuts out glare from the sun, which is very helpful for vision and making it easier to see in the snow. But those aren't glasses per se, because.
- [14:22]
Dr. Cheryl Mitchell
They don't have any form of lens in them. They're not really part of the history of spectacles.
- [14:27]
Narrator
Okay. But in 12th century China, judges wore tinted glasses to hide their eyes.
- [14:32]
Dr. Cheryl Mitchell
Judges would wear dark lenses so you couldn't detect what they were deliberating about.
- [14:37]
Narrator
But that wasn't about sun protection.
- [14:39]
Dr. Cheryl Mitchell
Now, at the same time, in Parallel to that, you have the history of what we would now call protective eyewear to guard the eyes as a protective barrier from all sorts of things, including the wind, from dust, from stray fragments, if you're operating a tool, for example, or chopping wood.
- [14:57]
Narrator
There were also special glasses that were meant to protect the eyes while you were, say, riding on a train, which could leave you at the mercy of smoke and dust and debris and wind. But these were sort of like a cross between goggles and glasses.
- [15:09]
Dr. Cheryl Mitchell
And these things could have tinted lenses, which could guard against glare, but they're not necessarily protection against the sun as we would understand it. So sunglasses are, in fact, a relatively modern concept.
- [15:22]
Narrator
And even still, some of the earliest examples of what we would now call sunglasses were only for very specialized patients.
- [15:29]
Claire Goldsmith
But the first person who ever made sunglasses is in 1780. Something. At the time, in the 18th century Britain, there was a big problem with syphilis.
- [15:37]
Narrator
Someone please hire me to do a special series on syphilis. So much comes back to syphilis, and.
- [15:41]
Claire Goldsmith
One of the symptoms of syphilis being light. Hypersensitivity and tinted lenses alleviate the conditions of syphilis. I just think there's something quite ironic that this bastion of fashion has its.
- [15:52]
Narrator
Roots in venereal disease, although it's also a little fitting. Like in the 1780s, if you saw someone in tinted glasses, you'd be like that guy Fox.
- [16:01]
Dr. Cheryl Mitchell
Syphilis could lead to scarring of the front surface of the eye, making your eyes both weak and sensitive. So dark lenses might be very necessary then. But also because there was the disfiguring effect.
- [16:13]
Narrator
Right. These glasses were also to hide the outward effects of syphilis, similarly to how dark glasses were worn to hide eyes from onlookers if you were, say, blind. So again, not entirely about the sun.
- [16:28]
Dr. Cheryl Mitchell
So sunglasses are, in fact, a relatively modern concept.
- [16:32]
Narrator
The name sunglasses, as in glasses that protect from the sun, doesn't really arrive until the 1890s. And one way they come on the scene is through the popularization of new kinds of sports. Alpine sports like skiing and hiking and other stuff in the snow, was really hard to do with a parasol or a big hat.
- [16:52]
Dr. Cheryl Mitchell
And they started to wear spectacles with.
- [16:54]
Narrator
Tinted lenses, mostly to be able to see in the bright snow.
- [16:58]
Dr. Cheryl Mitchell
So these are the first sunglasses, and they often made them locally in workshops.
- [17:03]
Narrator
That was mostly a European movement. Stateside, sunglasses are starting to be worn in our sports.
- [17:09]
Dr. Cheryl Mitchell
One of those was American baseball. The press reported when they weren't wearing their dark glasses and therefore missed catching the Ball.
- [17:16]
Narrator
And let's say you wanted to go see some of this American baseball or wanted to participate in one of these mountain sports you've heard so much about. You might have to take a multi week transatlantic boat to trip, in which case you'll have to pack the sunglasses you bought last winter in St. Moritz, darling.
- [17:32]
Dr. Cheryl Mitchell
They start to be used for new social pursuits, such as going across the ocean in an ocean liner and reclining on the sun deck.
- [17:41]
Narrator
And this part is sort of obvious, but as we roll into the end of the 19th century in industrializing countries, sunlight becomes a luxury. Something once loathed and avoided by agriculture, agricultural workers is now out of reach to the pasty factory worker. And so this sense of luxury was apparent in the actual sunglasses.
- [18:03]
Dr. Cheryl Mitchell
They're studded with jewels. They're made out of a more expensive metal such as gold or silver. But of course, metals heat up in the sun, so are not necessarily the best material to use for sunglasses.
- [18:15]
Narrator
On the more practical side, there were many expensive, unsustainable materials like tortoise shells, maybe inlaid with mother of pearl.
- [18:22]
Dr. Cheryl Mitchell
You get the crossover between the work of the optician, the spectacle maker and the jeweler. And so some of these things will be purchased from jewelry shops.
- [18:31]
Narrator
But I think we all know that just because something might be expensive, that does not make it cool. Those are two different things. Like, even when sunglasses started to be cheaper and made of plastic, they were still niche.
- [18:44]
Dr. Cheryl Mitchell
In the 1950s, sunglasses would still have been a minority interest. If you had gone to a beach, you would have spotted that the majority of the people on that beach would not have been wearing sunglasses.
- [19:00]
Narrator
So what about sunglasses makes them so cool? I mean, that is the emoji for cool. A smiley face wearing sunglasses.
- [19:07]
Dr. Cheryl Mitchell
It's a phenomenon. And somebody actually got their doctorate from studying that very concept. There's actually a PhD thesis was written on sunglasses and the concept of cool.
- [19:18]
Narrator
That thesis was written by Vanessa Brown.
- [19:21]
Tom Broughton
I'm based in the Department of Fashion and Textiles in the School of Art and Design at Nottingham Trent University.
- [19:27]
Narrator
Vanessa Brown also turned her thesis into a book called Cool the History and Meaning of Sunglasses. She basically explores how these things became the forever flag bearer of cool.
- [19:38]
Tom Broughton
The whole point of things that are cool is that they quickly become uncool and yet somehow or the other, they just didn't seem to lose that status. So I thought, here's a thing that's so resilient to the idea of perennial change, that there must be something really interesting about this.
- [19:55]
Narrator
And lo and behold, there are many interesting Things about this sunglasses became the manifestation of coolness based on a few key factors that all happened at the same time. But all of these reasons were only barely related to the sun. Like, actually, there was a line of thought that maybe sunglasses were just a cool accessory that were bad for your eyes.
- [20:17]
Tom Broughton
In the journals in the first half of the 20th century, most of the discussion is about how people shouldn't be wearing sunglasses because actually eyes are equipped with the ability to adjust to light anyway. So there's a lot of warning about people wearing sunglasses too much, too often in the wrong settings.
- [20:37]
Narrator
Sunglasses were much less about the sun and much more about the stars.
- [20:43]
Tom Broughton
By the end of the 1930s, the connection with celebrity is the main thing making people want sunglasses.
- [20:51]
Narrator
Sunglasses became something that every movie star had on their person.
- [20:55]
Dr. Cheryl Mitchell
And the assumption is, and this would be a natural assumption, this must be because these people are out in California where it's sunny.
- [21:03]
Narrator
That's what I assumed.
- [21:05]
Dr. Cheryl Mitchell
In reality, these photographs are taken in the studio.
- [21:08]
Narrator
A lot of these on set candids were taken by the movie studios and put in magazines to promote the star and the movie they were working on.
- [21:15]
Tom Broughton
So it's quite nice to have these images of people when they weren't actually being filmed.
- [21:19]
Narrator
And so in these sort of sanctioned behind the scenes pictures that the movie studios would make, stars always had their sunglasses on.
- [21:26]
Tom Broughton
But this was a way of ensuring that they still looked okay, like they didn't look tired or they didn't have their makeup off or whatever. So some quite odd pictures of celebrities in sunglasses eating their lunch in a.
- [21:38]
Narrator
Trailer, looking glamorous in their cultivated mystique.
- [21:42]
Dr. Cheryl Mitchell
There's a huge growth in the sale of sunglasses encouraged by film stars.
- [21:48]
Narrator
And then when the paparazzi became a thing, the need for sunglasses became even greater.
- [21:52]
Tom Broughton
The technology that those paparazzi used was quite violent. They didn't have long zoom lenses, so they would have to sort of like jump out of a bush at you, explode, the flashbulb shatters, and it would actually be quite an alarming thing to happen.
- [22:09]
Narrator
And the alarm was, of course, the point.
- [22:13]
Tom Broughton
They would quite like this because they would get pictures of celebrities looking shocked.
- [22:17]
Narrator
Sunglasses were more than just a disguise. They were a way to hide any shock that might. There was no way to read the.
- [22:25]
Dr. Cheryl Mitchell
Emotions hidden behind this self imposed shield that the glasses provided. And you can control how much of you is seen.
- [22:34]
Narrator
Which is part of the reason why jazz musicians started wearing sunglasses indoors at night at the club, at least according to the sociologist Howard Becker, who famously studied jazz musicians.
- [22:46]
Tom Broughton
Howard S. Becker interviewed a load of jazz men. He said that they developed all sorts of behaviors so that they wouldn't have to make artists contact with the audience. That's because a lot of their audiences wear white and not very cool at all.
- [23:00]
Narrator
Miles Davis probably did not want to invite eye contact with one of his dorky white fans who'd be like, hey, can you play She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain?
- [23:08]
Tom Broughton
You know, when I was growing up, DJs would do this. They'd like their headphones on, like I can't hear you because they don't want to play the thing that you are going to request.
- [23:19]
Narrator
In a smoky mid century jazz club. Sunglasses were protection for the artist. It allowed the musician to communicate with his higher muses, to transcend the crowd.
- [23:31]
Tom Broughton
And there's something really quintessentially jazz about this. It really is about being at one with your instrument and being self possessed.
- [23:41]
Narrator
Also, many of these musicians were on drugs.
- [23:43]
Tom Broughton
It would be easy for people to tell that they were taking heroin.
- [23:47]
Narrator
No need to show any dilated pupils here, just keeping it low key. So sunglasses get associated with drugs, sex, jazz, a fast paced lifestyle that doesn't accommodate hats and parasols and cars that kick up dust, and sports played outside and lounging on ship decks looking like a movie star. Sunglasses are just cool. Even sunglasses that aren't cool per se, like the flashy novelty sunglasses that are shaped like animals or hearts or suns.
- [24:18]
Tom Broughton
Are these kinds of novelty sunglasses. Can they be considered cool?
- [24:21]
Vanessa Brown
Cool?
- [24:22]
Tom Broughton
Most people would probably have said no because they're kitsch. Coolness is rarely silly.
- [24:28]
Narrator
But Vanessa Brown insists that even those corny sunglasses were rebellious in their way. They were a statement of radical frivolity.
- [24:37]
Tom Broughton
Radical frivolity is a kind of absolute commitment to pleasure. The antithesis of the thrifty Protestant judicious housewife. The antithesis of that. Also an antithesis of good taste. Understatement.
- [24:53]
Narrator
And, and, and, and at the same time, sunglasses were cool and rarefied. They were starting to become essential to normal everyday people in normal everyday circumstances. And again, not exactly because of the sun. It struck me that your overarching thesis was that although sunglasses are named for the sun, in the modern age, they are way more about other people.
- [25:18]
Tom Broughton
Absolutely. I think that the major function that sunglasses have is in mediating the gaze.
- [25:25]
Narrator
Of course, humans have used all kinds of objects to protect themselves from the eyes of others.
- [25:30]
Tom Broughton
Before sunglasses became this kind of gaze mediator, there were other things that people used.
- [25:35]
Narrator
A fan that flittered over the face, a Parasol that cast a shadow over the eyes, a hat brim that could.
- [25:41]
Tom Broughton
Be pulled down low, newspapers, cigarettes, even a thing that you can look involved in your own world, you're not bothered by anybody else.
- [25:50]
Narrator
This purpose is also served by your big headphones or the mask over your mouth or your gaze on your phone. These are what sociologist Erving Goffman called involvement shields. How great is that term, involvement shields? These are little tools of distraction which in urban life become vital.
- [26:11]
Tom Broughton
Georg Simmel, who was a German sociologist, said over 100 years ago that just living in an urban environment brought so many risks, where there's so much potentially unwelcome interaction and information that people would likely have two responses. One, they would become a nervous wreck, or they would become blase. So sunglasses are really critical here because they've emerged as a really useful tool to help you look blase, even if you feel like a nervous wreck. So I think this is part of the reason that sunglasses have remained such a popular signifier in visual culture, because this is a part of coolness that becomes especially valuable.
- [26:59]
Narrator
So valuable that companies quickly looked to bottle this feeling and sell it.
- [27:04]
Tom Broughton
One of the really early reviews of the Ray Ban. The reviewer initially describes himself as skeptical about the need for sunglasses. Says that when he tries them behind the Ray Ban glass, one experiences a coolness only to be described as delicious.
- [27:24]
Narrator
Mmm. Ray Bans. So delicious that they have become the Coca Cola of the eyes.
- [27:31]
Claire Goldsmith
If you ask 100 people on the street to name glasses brands, they'll be.
- [27:34]
Narrator
Like, Ray Ban after the break. The one company that makes almost all the sunglasses. I'm like, yeah, it's Ray Ban, but I'm not actually talking about Ray Ban. I'm talking about the company behind Ray Ban, the company that makes the vast majority of eyewear in the world, even when it seems like we have so many choices. So some of my friends heard the Nutrafol ads that were in the episode last month, and they were like, are you really taking that stuff? The answer is, yeah, I'm taking it. Why would I lie to you? I've been taking it for a month now. And Nutrafol is the number one dermatologist recommended hair growth supplement brand trusted by over one and a half million people. Anything truly worthwhile takes time and effort. And with Nutrafol, see, thicker, stronger, faster growing hair and less shedding in just three to six months. Okay, so it's only been a month of my Nutrafol journey. I take the four pills every morning with breakfast. But I really do think I mean, maybe I'm going nuts, but I really do think I see a difference. I am not shedding as much. It's very cool. This summer, stop worrying about your hair and start making memories. For a limited time, Nutrafol is offering our listeners $10 off your first month subscription and free shipping. When you go to nutrafool.com and enter the promo code articles Find out why Nutrafol is the best selling hair growth supplement brand@nutrafol.com spelled n u t r a f o l.com promo code articles that's nutrafol.com promo code articles are you a fellow renter? If you live in an expensive city like I do, it can feel like you're just taking the majority of your income and throwing it into a black hole every month. But there is a benefit to being a renter and it's called bilt. There's no cost to join just by paying rent, you unlock flexible points that can be transferred to your favorite hotels and airlines, a future rent payment or your next Lyft ride, and so much more. When you pay rent through bilt, you unlock two powerful benefits. First, you earn one of the industry's most valuable points on rent every month. No matter where you live or who your landlord is, your rent now works for you. Second, you gain access to exclusive neighborhood benefits in your city. Things like extra points on dining out, a complimentary post workout shake, and unique experiences that only BILT members can access. And when you're ready to travel, BILT points can be converted to your favorite miles and hotel points around the world, meaning your rent can literally take you places. Start paying rent through BILT and take advantage of your neighborhood benefits by going to joinbuilt.comarticles that's J O I N B I L T and make sure to use this URL so they know I sent you joinbuilt.com articles to sign up for BILT today. It's summer and as you flip through everybody's highlight reels of their trips to beach homes and all night parties, you might feel like the social pressure is non stop and maybe you're feeling a little burned out. Maybe you're feeling low energy or you're questioning why you have such a fragile mood or can't seem to find your libido. There's nothing wrong with checking out what's going on, and function helps you find the signals underneath the symptoms. Maybe something's going on with your level of testosterone or DHEAs, which are linked to libido and fertility or your cortisol is spiking, which controls your stress, inflammation, immunity and metabolism. Or maybe you're not getting enough vitamin D and magnesium, which are key to a healthy musculoskeletal and immune system. It's not that something's wrong with you. Function puts names and numbers to the crashes no one can see, because seeking information about what's off is the first step to getting yourself back on track. I chose Function because it's the only health platform that gives you access to the kind of data most people never see. Learn more and join using my link. The first 1000 get $100 of credit towards their membership. Visit functionhealth.com of interest or use gift code of interest 100 at signup to own your health I'm in the East Village in front of Fabulous Fannies waiting for Tom. Tom Broughton, the founder of the company Cubits, invited me to meet him in a different glasses store called Fabulous Fannies. I want to warn you, I'm live.
- [31:58]
Claire Goldsmith
Oh my live.
- [31:59]
Narrator
Just rolling. This is a destination for vintage frames and niche brands.
- [32:05]
Dr. Stephen Oppenheimer
Oh my love.
- [32:07]
Narrator
I watched as Tom was all but salivating over a pair of sunglasses that looked like two clinking glasses of brandy, complete with clear ice cubes.
- [32:17]
Claire Goldsmith
There are ice cubes in the tent.
- [32:18]
Narrator
Tom admitted that. Sure, even though he loves and collects novelty eyewear and makes a lot of fun, wacky frames himself, he probably wouldn't wear sunglasses like this. He actually doesn't wear sunglasses at all.
- [32:30]
Claire Goldsmith
Don't have any sunglasses?
- [32:31]
Narrator
You don't believe in them?
- [32:32]
Claire Goldsmith
No, I do believe in them. They're nice. But I wear glasses all the time.
- [32:35]
Narrator
Tom wears his eyeglasses, which are clear, but they have UV protection, so you actually don't need dark shades for protection from the sun.
- [32:42]
Claire Goldsmith
It's independent of the tint.
- [32:44]
Narrator
The shade of the lens is mostly just to reduce the strain on your eye, so sunglasses don't have to be any particular shade. There's a lot of variety that's possible in sunglasses. And there at Fabulous Fannies I was bombarded with a ton of wild looking designs from many supposedly iconic eyewear companies that I had never heard of before. Like for example, Cutler and Gross.
- [33:08]
Claire Goldsmith
Cutler and Gross is one of the reasons I fell in love with glasses.
- [33:10]
Narrator
They made Jarvis Cocker's chunky glasses. And then there's Cazale.
- [33:14]
Claire Goldsmith
So Cazale have got actually a fascinating history.
- [33:16]
Narrator
Cazale was a West German company that made these thick, sensible frames for German bankers until Run DMC started wearing them.
- [33:24]
Claire Goldsmith
It got associated with new York hip.
- [33:26]
Narrator
Hop culture, not to mention the Cazale boys with their 1985 single Snatchin. Cazales, Cazales, Gazelles, the clientele, the Caz, the A and the L. But a pioneering eyewear brand that looms quite large, both for Tom and for sunglasses in general, is a much older brand called Oliver Goldsmith.
- [33:44]
Claire Goldsmith
So like Audrey Hepburn and Breakfast at Tiffany, she's wearing an Oliver Goldsmith.
- [33:47]
Narrator
The Breakfast at Tiffany's sunglasses are a model that Oliver Goldsmith still makes. Today. The model is called Manhattan, even though the company is British. As you can hear in the accent of fourth generation Goldsmith, Claire Goldsmith, Audrey's films.
- [34:00]
Vanessa Brown
The actual Givenchy outfit was brought into our offices so that we could see what it was that we were designing glasses to go with.
- [34:09]
Narrator
Clare Goldsmith wasn't there designing Audrey Hepburn's glasses, but her family was. Her great grandfather started Oliver Goldsmith in 1926, and then Claire's grandfather took over the company. And then just by chance, he changed eyewear forever.
- [34:24]
Vanessa Brown
We were based in Soho, central London, and it was quite a manufacturing area at the time. And next door to us was a manufacturer of clothing. And they made buttons.
- [34:35]
Narrator
And these buttons were being made out of a revolutionary new material called plastic.
- [34:43]
Vanessa Brown
Not easy to get hold of. You couldn't get it. It was the late 1930s.
- [34:47]
Narrator
Claire's grandfather cut a deal with the owner of this factory and gave him some spectacle frames in exchange for some sheets of plastic. And this plastic was actually very boring. It was like this bland beige color.
- [34:59]
Vanessa Brown
It was a very. It's a very nude kind of color. They were a little insipid.
- [35:04]
Narrator
But he took this plastic and turned it into a pair of pinkish beige plastic glasses. And he named those glasses Dawn Dawn.
- [35:13]
Vanessa Brown
Exactly. The dawn of plastic. It really was a pivotal moment for eyewear, being able to transcend into fashion.
- [35:21]
Narrator
Fashion meaning like something that goes in and out of style, that you change with the seasons or with your handbag or your outfit. Because not only was plastic cheap, it was extremely subject to trend because plastic.
- [35:35]
Dr. Cheryl Mitchell
Allows you to introduce color into the story.
- [35:38]
Narrator
Again, Dr. Neal Handley of the British Optical Association Museum at the College of Optometrists in London, instead of brown and.
- [35:44]
Dr. Cheryl Mitchell
Grey eyewear, you have red, green, blue, yellow. And you can start to mix and match spectacle frames to coordinate with your wardrobe.
- [35:54]
Narrator
A great excuse to go shopping.
- [35:57]
Dr. Cheryl Mitchell
And what we did get was the introduction from the 1950s onwards of brand names that didn't originate as optical brands.
- [36:08]
Narrator
Brands that had no experience designing eyewear.
- [36:10]
Dr. Cheryl Mitchell
So I'm talking about fashion houses.
- [36:12]
Narrator
Take for example, the iconic mini dress designer Mary Quant, who designed a line of big, colorful glasses in 1973.
- [36:19]
Dr. Cheryl Mitchell
The Mary Quant sunglasses were actually very poorly fitting.
- [36:23]
Narrator
Who would have guessed? Designing eyeglasses is a completely separate art from designing clothes. Eyewear design is more specific and exacting than I can reasonably attempt to describe on a podcast. So suffice to say, for her next range of glasses, in 1974, Mary Quant handed the reins over to an actual optometrist.
- [36:40]
Dr. Cheryl Mitchell
And that was a much more commercially successful range.
- [36:43]
Narrator
And so when Dior wanted to have some sunglasses, they turned to none other than Oliver Goldsmith.
- [36:48]
Vanessa Brown
With Dior, they didn't make glasses, so they just asked us to make them some.
- [36:53]
Narrator
The fashion house paid the optical company to make glasses. Great. This is how the industry worked. And it was pretty straightforward, right? Fashion houses reach out to glasses manufacturers and ask to make their lines of eyewear and sunglasses until one optical company completely flipped this approach. Beginning in the late 80s, this eyewear manufacturer began approaching fashion houses and paying them.
- [37:18]
Vanessa Brown
They went to Armani and said, hey, we would like to make glasses with your brand on, and we'll give you some money for every pair we sell. And Armani said, yeah, okay, why not? And that was the first eyewear license, and the whole industry of eyewear license licensing stems from that.
- [37:36]
Narrator
That innovative Italian eyewear company was called Luxottica. And after the Armani deal, Luxottica eventually started to license other brands, including Ralph Lauren, Tiffany's, Prada, Burberry, Oliver Peoples, Persol, Dolce and Gabbana, Versace, Vogue, and many, many, many, many more. Today, Luxottica designs and makes eyewear for over 150 major brands.
- [37:57]
Dr. Cheryl Mitchell
And you may see these names on the shelves in an optimistic practice and think that they are rival products from different manufacturers, but you may well find many of them are made by the same company in the same factory.
- [38:11]
Narrator
Luxottica is the biggest one, but there are a few other players in the sunglasses licensing game, like Markalin, which has agreements with Guess and Adidas. And then there's Safolo, which has Levi's and Under Armour. And there's Marchen, who licensed Chloe and Lacoste and Calvin Klein. And basically all of these brand affiliations turned sunglasses into affordable luxuries like lipstick or perfume. A way to capture a bit of brand magic.
- [38:36]
Vanessa Brown
It was the days when. Do you remember when you used to have, like, Armani or whatever emblazoned across your chest? Logomania. Logomania.
- [38:45]
Narrator
Luxottica was churning out hundreds of new designs for dozens of well known brands and Oliver Goldsmith could not compete.
- [38:52]
Vanessa Brown
Big brands were what people wanted. Us being a British handcrafted little independent eyewear company just wasn't what people wanted. So the company shut down.
- [39:04]
Narrator
And then shortly after Oliver Goldsmith shut down, a major factor in sunglasses emerged, which is the actual freaking sun. The 1980s brings a new rise in budget airlines and hotels and a proliferation of sunbathing. The ozone layer, which had been slowly getting depleted over the course of the 1970s, was now weaker at protecting against UV light. And people found out about this because melanoma was killing people. According to a 2021 study from the Brighton and Sussex Medical School, since 1981, skin cancer rates have increased by 550% in men and 250% in women.
- [39:46]
Tom Broughton
It it's with our understanding about UV, people start thinking about sun protection.
- [39:54]
Narrator
That's Vanessa Brown again, author of the book Cool Shades.
- [39:56]
Tom Broughton
It really isn't until the 90s that you see emphasis on the sun as a source of harm in the way these things are marketed.
- [40:05]
Narrator
Sunglasses actually become a medical device.
- [40:09]
Dr. Cheryl Mitchell
It's more like going full circle because they absolutely were protective devices in origin.
- [40:17]
Narrator
Dr. Neal Handley would like to remind you that sunglasses really started as goggles, and then after a long life as a fashion accessory, they became protective again.
- [40:27]
Dr. Cheryl Mitchell
Yes, it was only in relatively recent times, within my lifetime, that medical regulations were enforced. It was around 1990 too, that there was legislation passed in the United Kingdom to ensure that all sunglass lenses were compliant with British standards, which have since been incorporated within international ISO standards.
- [40:51]
Narrator
Apparently, Australia may have introduced UV standards as early as the 70s, but back then, sunglasses technology wasn't protective enough yet.
- [40:59]
Dr. Cheryl Mitchell
But it is one useful warning to consumers today. If they want to wear vintage sunglasses, they should be aware that the lenses may not meet modern safety requirements.
- [41:11]
Narrator
The UV filtration has to do with the coating on lenses and the way it's applied. And it turned this fashion accessory into a necessity for living on earth.
- [41:21]
Dr. Bazan
UV on the short term can cause sunburns to our eyes.
- [41:24]
Narrator
That is once again, my own eye doctor, Dr. Bazan.
- [41:26]
Dr. Bazan
It's called photokeratitis. Inside the eye, the sun causes cataract formation.
- [41:31]
Narrator
Sunlight becomes another danger to add to the litany of dangers of everyday existence. And so the act of simply walking out into the sun now takes on a sense of risk, which makes it cool.
- [41:47]
Tom Broughton
The risk from the sun. Sunglasses are a way of kind of demonstrating that you're really cool, but at the same time, you're protecting yourself against the dangers of doing these things by having this particular sun cream, these particular sunglasses.
- [42:04]
Narrator
What a testament to sunglasses coolness, right? That they stayed cool even after they became a safet device like this will never happen with bike helmets. So the sunglasses market now expanded to include kind of everyone on the planet. Like now we were all supposed to wear them for our health. And so in a very shrewd move in 1995, Luxottica acquired LensCrafters. LensCrafters, the largest eyewear retail chain in North America. In this episode of 60 Minutes, Lesley Stahl really took Luxottica to task for price fixing. I asked LensCrafters President Mark Weichel, how many non Luxottica brands do you sell here? We probably have a few brands that are not luxottica. Mostly Luxottica.
- [42:48]
Dr. Cheryl Mitchell
Mostly Luxottica, yeah.
- [42:50]
Narrator
Leslie Stull, you icon. Luxottica also owns Sunglass Hut, the largest sunglass chain in the world. And in a Sunglass Hut you will find brands that Luxottica has, has outright purchased over the years like Oakley and Ray Ban. And Ray Ban is the top selling sunglass brand in the world. Ray Bans used to be made by the American optical firm Bausch and Loam, which had fallen on hard times and was bought by Luxottica in 1999. And so Ray Bans by their very ubiquity and availability became the sunglasses glasses to wear.
- [43:28]
Vanessa Brown
Ray Ban, Ray Ban. That would be my biggest gripe in life is just seeing every man and his dog wearing Ray Ban sunglasses became.
- [43:37]
Narrator
Less of a statement. Like if everyone was supposed to be wearing them, they didn't have to be as stylish anymore.
- [43:42]
Claire Goldsmith
Don't you think it's just the interest got more just boring over time. People just started playing it safe.
- [43:47]
Narrator
Do you think like everything got boring because of Luxottica? Like is it all a little, don't you think? And so of course there was the backlash to luxottica. The startups and the direct to consumer brands arrived offering cheaper frames and a new wave of designers began to push aesthetic boundaries. Like Tom Broughton started Cubits and Claire Goldsmith revived the family business and relaunched Oliver Goldsmith in 2005.
- [44:09]
Vanessa Brown
It was received so warmly when I kind of went back out to the market and I said, oh, Oliver Goldsmith back. There was still a lot of people that remembered it. But then the younger generation immediately picked up on the references.
- [44:20]
Narrator
And it's not just about the style of these things. There is a quality difference that matters in sunglasses, even the plastic looking ones. Like I didn't know this. Did you know that acetate is made.
- [44:32]
Vanessa Brown
With Cotton cellulose acetate is made from cotton, and they mix it with plasticizers that form this kind of jelly in sheets. When the jelly becomes firm, they peel these big sheets and they hang them in huge drying rooms. And the drying process is so important, and it cannot be rushed. Right.
- [44:52]
Narrator
And it's certainly easier to monitor quality control when you make fewer frames.
- [44:57]
Claire Goldsmith
Our size is perfect. That size in a black or a dark grey would look really nice.
- [45:02]
Narrator
And so when my new sunglasses arrived, custom cut and fitted to my face, I enjoyed the soothing weight of the thick acetate resting on my ears. I appreciate the smooth way the arms hinge up and down, the way the lenses fully cover my eyes. And I appreciate the little shield they make for me in the world. I no longer think it's silly to wear sunglasses inside or on the subway. I think it's okay that they're also about style. It's built into them. And it's something the optometrists have made peace with.
- [45:36]
Dr. John Dixon Salt
No, I mean, they're functional. I mean, they're functional fashion.
- [45:45]
Narrator
Thank you so much to Dr. Drew Miller and everyone at the Ocular Heritage Society for letting me crash their annual meeting. It was actually a blast. Special thanks also to Dr. Neal Handley, who was actually there at the meeting. And thanks as well to Tom Broughton and everyone at Cubits for being the ones to send me down this rabbit hole. Also thanks to Rachel Cohen and Jess Lunning and Thayer Cavado. This script was edited by the one and only Alex Alison Barringer. Thank you, Alison. And if you'd like to see pictures of my cool new sunglasses, as well as images of what some old precursors to sunglasses look like, head to articlesofinterest.substack.com okay, more next month.
- [46:26]
Dr. Stephen Oppenheimer
Radiotopia.
- [46:29]
Narrator
From PRX.