Sunglasses

Brown sunglasses

Sunglasses are a visual aid, variously termed spectacles or glasses, which feature lenses that are coloured or darkened to screen out strong light from the eyes.

Many people find direct sunlight too bright to be comfortable, especially when reading from paper on which the sun directly shines. In outdoor activities like skiing and flying, the eye can receive more light than usual. It has been recommended to wear these kind of glasses on sunny days to protect the eyes from ultraviolet radiation, which can lead to the development of a cataract. Sunglasses have also been associated with celebrities and film actors primarily due to the desire to mask identity, but in part due to the lighting involved in production being typically stronger than natural light and uncomfortable to the naked eye.

Since the 1950s sunglasses have been popular as a fashion statement, especially on the beach.

Uses

Hiding one's eyes has implications in face-to-face communication: It can hide weeping, being one of the signs of mourning, makes eye contact impossible which can be intimidating, as in the stereotype of the guardian of a chain gang, or can show detachment, which is considered cool in some circles. Many cultures do not take to them kindly. Darkened sunglasses of particular shapes may be in vogue as a fashion accessory. Note that normal glasses are very rarely worn without a practical purpose. Curiously, they can project an image of uncool nerdiness that sunglasses do not have. The impact on nonverbal communication and the cool image can be the reasons for wearing sunglasses by night or indoors. People also wear sunglasses when they do not wish others to see that they are intoxicated from recreational drug use, this can be to hide dilated or contracted pupils or bloodshot eyes.

People with severe visual impairment, such as the blind, often wear sunglasses so they do not make others uncomfortable with the fact that they cannot make eye contact with them (not seeing eyes may be better than seeing eyes which seem to look in the wrong direction), or to hide the eyes if their appearance is abnormal, for example due to cataracts. Before the introduction of sunglasses, one-eyed people could wear an eyepatch to not disturb other people. Some people who are severely visually impaired but still sighted wear sunglasses in order to protect their vision against glare.

Visual clarity and comfort

Sunglasses can improve visual comfort and visual clarity by protecting the eye from glare. Various types of disposable sunglasses are dispensed to patients after receiving mydriatic eye drops during eye examinations.

Protection

Excessive exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UV) can cause short-term and long-term ocular problems such as photokeratitis, snow blindness, cataracts, pterygium, and various eye cancers. Medical experts often advise the public on the importance of wearing sunglasses to protect the eyes from UV. In the European Union, a CE mark identifies glasses fulfilling quality regulations. In the preparation for solar eclipses, health authorities often warn against looking at the sun through only sunglasses.

There's no demonstrated correlation between high prices and increased UV protetection. A 1995 study reported that "Expensive brands and polarizing sunglasses do not guarantee optimal UVA protection." . The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has also reported that "[c]onsumers cannot rely on price as an indicator of quality" [1]. One unscientific survey even found a $6.95 pair of generic glasses with slightly better protection than Michael Kors or Salvatore Ferragamo shades [2].

More recently, High energy visible light (HEV) has been implicated as a cause of age-related macular degeneration, and some manufacturers design to block it. Sunglasses may be especially important for children, as their ocular lenses are thought to transmit far more HEV light than adults (lenses "yellow" with age).

Some sunglasses also pass ANSI Z87.1 requirements for basic impact and high impact protection. These are voluntary standards, so not all sunglasses comply, nor are manufacturers required to comply. In the basic impact test, a 1 in (2.54 cm) steel ball is dropped on the lens from 50 in (127 cm). In the high velocity test, a 1/4 in (6.35mm) steel ball is shot at the lens at 150 ft/s (45.72 m/s). In both tests, no part of the lens can touch the eye.

Construction

Lens

The color of the lens can vary by style, fashion, and purpose, but for general use, green, grey, or brown is recommended to avoid or minimize color distortion, that could be dangerous when, for instance, driving a car. Grey lenses are considered neutral because they do not enhance contrast or distort colors. Brown and green lenses cause some minimal color distortion, but have contrast-enhancing properties. Red lenses are good for medium and lower light conditions because they are good at enhancing contrast but causes color distortion. Orange and yellow lenses have the best contrast enhancement and depth perception but cause color distortion. Yellow lenses are commonly used by golfers and shooters for its contrast enhancement and depth perception properties. Blue and purple lenses offer no real benefits and are mainly cosmetic. Clear lenses are used typically to protect the eyes from impact, debris, dust, or chemicals. Some sunglasses with interchangeable lens have optional clear lenses to protect the eyes during low light or night time activities. Debate exists as to whether "blue blocking" or amber tinted lenses may have a protective effect.

Some models have polarized lenses (made from Polaroid or a similar material) to reduce glare caused by light reflected from polarizing surfaces such as water as well as by polarized diffuse sky radiation (skylight).

Some models use a degradation where the top of the glass (through which the sky is looked at) is darker and the bottom is transparent.

A mirrored coating can also be applied to the lens. This mirrored coating reflects some of the light when it hits the lens before it is transmitted through the lens making it useful in bright conditions. These mirrored coatings can be made any color by the manufacturer for styling and fashion purposes. The color of the mirrored surface is irrelevant to the color of the lens. For example, a gray lens can have a blue mirror coating, and a brown lens can have a silver coating. These type of sunglasses are sometimes called mirrorshades.

Any of the above features: color, polarization, degradation, and mirroring, can be combined into a set of lenses for a pair of sunglasses.

With the introduction of office computing, ergonomists can recommend mildly tinted glasses for display operators to increase contrast.

Corrective lenses can be darkened to serve the same purpose, or secondary clip-on dark lenses can be placed in front of the regular lenses. Some lenses gradually darken with bright light and lighten in darkness. These are known as photochromic lenses.

Sunglass lenses are made from either glass or plastic. Plastic lenses are typically made from acrylic, polycarbonate, or CR-39. Glass lenses have the best optical clarity and scratch resistance, but are heavier than plastic lenses. They can also shatter or break on impact. Plastic lenses are lighter than glass lenses, but are more prone to scratching. They do however, offer more resistance to shattering than glass. Polycarbonate lenses are the lightest, and are also almost shatterproof, making them good for impact protection. CR-39 lenses are the most common plastic lenses, due to their low weight, high scratch resistance, low transparency for ultraviolet and infrared radiation, and other advantageous properties.

For sunglasses that also include vision correction, see also corrective lens.

Frames

Frames are generally made from plastic, nylon, a metal or metal alloy. Nylon frames are usually used in sports because they are light weight and flexible. They are able to bend slightly and return to their original shape instead of breaking when pressure is applied to them. This flex can also help the glasses grip better on the wearer's face. Metal frames are usually more rigid than nylon frames thus they can be more easily damaged when participating in sporty activities, but this is not to say that they cannot be used for such activities. Because metal frames are more rigid, some models have spring loaded hinges to help them grip the wearer's face better. The end of the ear pieces and the bridge over the nose can be textured or have a rubber or plastic material to hold better. The end of the ear pieces are usually curved so that they wrap around the ear; however, some models have straight ear pieces. Oakley, for example, has straight ear pieces on all their glasses.

Frames can be made to hold the lenses in several different ways. There are three common styles: full frame, half frame, and frameless. Full frame glasses have the frame go all around the lenses. Half frames go around only half the lens, typically the frames attach to the top of the lenses and on the side near the top. Frameless glasses have no frame around the lenses and the ear stems are attached directly to the lenses. There are two styles of frameless glasses, those that have a piece of frame material connecting the two lenses together, and those that are a single lens with ear stems on each side.

Some sports oriented sunglasses have interchangeable lens options. Lenses can be easily removed and swapped with a different lens, usually a different colored lens. The purpose of this is to allow the wearer to easily change lenses when light conditions or activities change. The reason for this is because the cost of a set of lenses is less than the cost of a separate pair of glasses and carrying extra lenses is less bulky than carrying multiple pairs of glasses. It also allows easy replacement of a set of lenses if they are damaged. The most common type of sunglasses with interchangeable lenses have a single lens or shield that covers both eyes. Styles that use two lenses also exist, but less common.

Fashion

Onassis glasses

Onassis glasses are very large sunglasses worn by women. This style of sunglasses is said to mimic the kind most famously worn by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. While originally worn by Onassis in the 1960's, the glasses eventually became popular with younger American girls around the year 2000. Big sunglasses have maintained their popularity though 2006. They have also expanded their demographic reach to adult women throughout the world. Modern day celebrities use these to hide from the glaring eye of the paparazzi.

Mirrorshades

Main article: Mirrorshades

Mirrorshades are sunglasses with a mirrored coating on the surface. Their popularity with police officers in the United States has earned them the nickname "cop shades". The two most popular styles for these are dual lenses set in metal frames (which are often confused with Aviators), and "Wraparound" (a single, smooth, semi-circular lense that covers both eyes and much of the same area of the face covered by protective goggles, combined with a minimal plastic frame and single piece of plastic serving as a nosepad). Wraparound sunglasses are also quite popular in the world of extreme sports.

Aviators

Aviators are sunglasses with a dark lens, an oversized teardrop lens shape and thin metal frames. This design first appeared in 1936 by Ray Ban for issue to U.S. military aviators. Their popularity with pilots, military and law enforcement personnel in the United States has never wavered. In recent years aviator sunglasses have again become popular with all sorts of wearers.

Wayfarers

First introduced by Ray-Ban, the Wayfarer design popularized since the 1950s by Hollywood celebrities such as James Dean is thought to be the bestselling sunglasses design to date.

Teashades

Teashades were a type of psychedelic wire-rim sunglasses that were often worn, usually for purely aesthetic reasons, by members of the 60's drug counterculture. The common teashade is supported by pads on the bridge of the nose and has a thin wire frame. A uniquely-colored or darkened glass lens was usually preferred, perhaps to hide bloodshot eyes from cannabis use, but probably more often simply as a fashion statement.

The term has now fallen into disuse, although references can still be found in literature of the time. Teashades are briefly referenced during a police training video in Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

History

It is said that the Roman emperor Nero liked to watch gladiator fights through polished gems, likely emeralds. Sunglasses were first used in China in the 12th century or possibly earlier. The "lenses" of these glasses were flat panes of smoky quartz, which offered no corrective powers but did protect the eyes from glare. Contemporary documents describe the use of such glasses by judges in Chinese courts to conceal their facial expressions while questioning witnesses. Compare the representation of "blind Justice" in Western art.

James Ayscough began experimenting with tinted lenses in spectacles in the mid-18th century. These were not "sunglasses" as such; Ayscough believed blue- or green-tinted glass could correct for specific vision impairments. Protection from the sun's rays was not a concern of his.

In the early 1900's, the use of sunglasses started to become more widespread, especially among the pioneering stars of silent movies. But early movie stars didn't wear sunglasses as much to avoid being recognized than to protect their eyes from the harshly bright lighting of some early film studios, often taking their sunglasses off only when stepping in front of the camera to shoot a scene. The lighting of early movie studios was almost as bright as that of the sun.

Inexpensive mass-produced sunglasses were introduced to America by Sam Foster in 1929. Foster found a ready market on the beaches of Atlantic City, New Jersey, where he began selling sunglasses under the name Foster Grant from a Woolworth on the Boardwalk.

Sunglasses would not become polarized, however, until 1936, when Edwin H. Land began experimenting with making lenses with his patented Polaroid filter.

It has been said that sunglasses only started to become "cool" during World War II, after pictures of military figures like General Douglas MacArthur wearing sunglasses reached the home front.

In 2004, Oakley developed Thump, sunglasses with built-in digital audio player. This design has been copied by a number of smaller companies.

Other names for sunglasses

There are also various words referring to eyepieces with darkened lenses:

• Sun spectacles is a term used by some opticians.
• Spekkies is a term used predominantly in southern Australia.
• Sun specs (also sunspecs) is the shortened form of the above term.
• Sunglasses is a term in common usage in Britain and North America, and it is also used when preceded by "pair of".
• Sun-shades can also refer to the sun-shading eyepiece-type, although the term is not exclusive to these. Also in use is the derivative abbreviation, shades.
• Dark glasses (also preceded by pair of) - generic term in common usage.
• Sunnies is Australian slang.
• Smoked Spectacles usually refers to the darkened eyepieces worn by blind people.

List of celebrities predominantly seen wearing sunglasses

Some celebrities are predominantly seen in public wearing sunglasses, even indoors. These people include:

• Pedro Abrunhosa, Portuguese singer
• Robert Ashley, American composer
• Richard Belzer, comedian and actor
• Jon Bon Jovi,singer of Bon Jovi, actor
• Bono, singer of U2
• Ray Charles, blind musician, now deceased.
• Kurt Cobain, wore women's sunglasses jokeingly; musician, now deceased.
• Bootsy Collins, funk musician
• Sean 'Puffy' Combs [aka Diddy] US rapper/entertainer
• Adam Copeland (Edge), Canadian professional wrestler, esp. as part of the tag team Edge and Christian
• Bob Dylan US Singer/Songwriter
• Jose Feliciano, blind musician
• Enzo Ferrari, Italian automotive pioneer
• Franz Ferdinand, the British indie rock band.
• Liam and Noel Gallagher of Oasis
• Mitch Hedberg, late comedian
• Heino, German singer
• Michael Jackson, pop star
• Wojciech Jaruzelski, Polish chief of state
• Elton John, in unusual tints
• Umm Kalthum, Egyptian singer, now deceased
• Lenny Kravitz, Singer/Entertainer
• Akira Kurosawa, Film director
• Karl Lagerfeld, German fashion designer
• Huey Lewis, singer
• Tom Leykis, radio personality
• Roger McGuinn, singer and guitarist (The Byrds)
• Takashi Miike, Japanese film director
• Ronnie Milsap, blind country singer.
• Jack Nicholson, actor
• Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, widow of John F. Kennedy
• Ric Ocasek - musician and producer
• Yoko Ono, Japanese artist and John Lennon's wife
• Roy Orbison, singer
• Brad Pitt, Hollywood actor
• Richard Petty, NASCAR legend
• Joey Ramone, Musician (The Ramones)
• Jason Reso (Christian Cage), Canadian professional wrestler, esp. as part of the tag team Edge and Christian.
• Pete Senerca (Tazz), professional wrestling commentator on the WWE Friday Night SmackDown! program.
• Paul Shaffer - bandleader
• Wesley Snipes, Actor
• Howard Stern, shock jock
• Masayuki Suzuki, Japanese singer of Rats & Star
• Tamori, Japanese television personality
• Toots Thielemans, Belgian jazz artist
• Hunter S. Thompson, journalist, deceased
• Andy Warhol, artist
• Hank Williams, Jr. - country music singer
• Anna Wintour* - Editor-in-Chief of Vogue
• Stevie Wonder, blind musician
• and all three members of ZZ Top, who had a 1980 hit with Cheap Sunglasses
• Heath Ledger, actor
• All three members of Japanese rock band Guitar Wolf
• Ringo Starr, drummer
• Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong film director

Some fictional characters predominantly seen wearing sunglasses

Some fictional characters are predominantly depicted as wearing sunglasses. These include:

• Dr. Strangelove, an ex-Nazi scientist working for the US Government.
• Blade, a fictional Marvel Comics comic-book character about a vampire-hunter. The comics have been adapted into a series of 3 films.
• John Munch, Detective in Homicide: Life on the Street,Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (played by Richard Belzer, see above)
• The Blues Brothers, musicians
• The reporter crew of the Argentinian and Spanish shows Caiga Quien Caiga
• Max Headroom - 1980s "computer generated" celebrity
• Cyclops, from the X-Men - wears sunglasses when he is not in costume with his visor. In his case, he must wear special sunglasses when he's not wearing his visor because he is unable to control his superhuman powers without them.
• Matt Murdock, blind lawyer from Daredevil
• Wonder Man of the Avengers incorporated sunglasses into a couple of his costumes.
• The Men in Black and the Men in Black of urban legend.
• Most characters from The Matrix movie. Interestingly, all of the protagonists wear rounded lenses, while the antagonists wear rectangular lenses.
• The crew from Reservoir Dogs.
• Most of the mafia members from the anime Gungrave
• Albert Wesker from the video game Resident Evil.
• Clifford, a Muppet character
• The Energizer Bunny
• Anthony Crowley, from the novel Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
• Gendo Ikari, from the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion
• Rude, a member of the Turks from Final Fantasy VII.
• Auron, one of the main characters from Final Fantasy X
• The mirrored aviator sunglasses of the silent boss figure prominently in the plot of Cool Hand Luke.
• Steven Hyde's red aviator sunglasses from That '70s Show.
• Johnny and Bunny Bravo from Johnny Bravo.
• Jimmy T. from WarioWare, Inc.
• Duke Nukem( as of Duke Nukem 3D).
• The MacManus brothers from The Boondock Saints.
• Master Roshi from the Dragon Ball series.
• Vash the Stampede from Trigun
• Alucard from Hellsing
• Riff from Sluggy Freelance
• The Terminator
• JC Denton from the video game Deus Ex.
• Joe Cool, which is an alias for Snoopy of Peanuts fame.
• Knight from the anime Duel Masters.

External links

• "How sunglasses work" (HowStuffWorks)