Minimalist, Fashionable - Ever More Popular: Rimless Eyeglasses
The rimless style of eyeglasses for men and women has undergone a number of ups and downs in popularity over the years. There have been periods during which rimless glasses have been considered highly fashionable, but also times when they were completely out of favor and were rarely seen. As with most other types of glasses, factors that have affected their image have often included the identity of famous people who have become known for wearing them.
Savile Row 'Steve Jobs' Rimless EyeglassesBackground
The origins of rimless eye glasses go back almost 200 years. J. F. Voigtlander, an inventor from Austria, launched a monocle without a rim in the 1820s. However, it was to be another 60 years before rimless glasses themselves appeared. One factor behind their introduction was the heaviness of conventional frames in those days: this was a time before the technology existed to make lightweight frames of the sort today's glasses-wearers are used to. Making eyeglasses less obvious was also something members of polite society had long wanted, as glasses were not thought of as attractive or fashionable.
Waxing and Waning Popularity
The first significant boost to the popularity of rimless eye glasses in the United States came in the early years of the 20th century. President Theodore Roosevelt was the driving force behind this, as he preferred to wear rimless pince-nez himself. A different style, known as the "three-piece" because of its structure, started to displace pince-nez after World War One. For the next 40 years, there was little change, although a semi-rimless style was briefly popular in the 1940s. From the 1960s onward, demand for rimless eye glasses began to drop away as rims became seen as a fashion statement in themselves. The 1980s did see a short-lived boost in rimless glasses' popularity, but at the end of the 20th century the style had become seen as more intellectual and geeky than fashionable.
Steve Jobs and Rimless Glasses' Resurgence
By the early 21st century, horn-rimmed glasses were taking over from rimless glasses as the most popular and fashionable style, although some high-profile people, such as Sarah Palin, were noted for wearing rimless styles. However, in 2011, Apple CEO Steve Jobs died. The strength of his popular image was reinforced after he died, as those who admired him began to put in requests for glasses of their own in the round, rimless style he had favored. This demand for "tribute glasses" quickly led to manufacturer Robert Marc, who in 1998 had designed Jobs' glasses, receiving huge numbers of orders; at one point there was a waiting list of three months for a pair. Such was Jobs' reputation that similar glasses also became highly sought after at trade shows. Asia proved to be the most popular market.
Legacy
Steve Jobs - Rimless EyeglassesThe surge in demand for rimless eye glasses after the death of Steve Jobs demonstrates clearly that this style retains a strong underlying attraction. Despite their ever-changing levels of popularity, it seems certain that there will always be a market for glasses of this type. The boost they received from the "Steve Jobs effect" remains powerful, and has led to the style becoming more widespread than it has been for over half a century.