Spectacles and sunglasses are the most popular fashion accessories of our time. Yet it has taken 700 years for spectacles to take on the form we know today. Over the centuries, an enormous variety of formats were invented: reading stones, rivet spectacles, bridge spectacles, ear loop spectacles, manocles and monocles, scissors spectacles, lorgnettes and wig spectacles.

This book provides a comprehensive account of the design of spectacles in their many guises and of the historical developments that influenced them. A detailed history of spectacles is presented through a brief synopsis and more than 500 photos.

Spectacles & Sunglasses devotes considerable attention to 20th century designs, a period that witnessed the creation of innumerable outlandish and extravagant spectacles. Jackie Kennedy’s and Audrey Hepburn’s sunglasses; the frames worn by Buddy Holly, Nana Mouskouri and Yves Saint Laurent; and the famous models by Pierre Cardin, Courrèges, Ray-Ban and Christian Dior may all be found in this book. A wide range of contemporary innovative designs is also represented.

This is the English edition of Spectacles & Sunglasses; please note that there are also other editions available.

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