Katie 033

The years 1963 and especially 1964 brought the arrival of a new trend in eyewear fashion. The new frames were small and compact, without any trace of the cat eye style of the 1950's and early 1960's. These "Toxy" glasses by Rodenstock were among the very first examples of the new style. In 1996, I had the chance to meet the first owner of the glasses, a blonde lady with a narrow face. When hearing about my collection, she gave me a box which contained all her old glasses, about a dozen. She had a great taste for frames but always hated her glasses (then minus three) and only used them when it was absolutely necessary. Later, we ran through her old photo albums and this enabled me to establish the year when each new pair was bought. It was interesting to see her frame choice over the years. The "Toxy" glasses were the earliest pair in the box and bought when she was quite young and money scarce. She used the "Toxy" glasses until 1971 when the frame style had become completely outdated, replacing them by her first pair of Silhouette glasses. The small, compact frames of the mid 1960's disappeared from the streets in 1967 / 1968 when flower power arrived. The new frames soon got bigger and bigger, the maximal size being reached in the mid 1970's. It was fascinating to witness all these changes in eyewear fashion.