Sonia 120

The classic cat eye glasses from their heyday were small in comparison with contemporary frames. This had in part to do with the limitations in the materials available at the time. Especially the plastics were primitive. At the start of my days as a collector, I bought dozens of cat eye glasses at the flea market in Amsterdam. Very few of these early cat eye glasses have survived. Many of them are badly warped or simply broken. The primitive plastic started to crumble within two decades. The nose piece was often the weakest point. The arrival of the large frames of the early 1970's was not simply a reflection of changes in society, expressed in fashion. The large frames arrived as a result of new inventions in material technology. Materials subsequently got better and better although this was not always reflected in fashion. In my opinion, the 1990's and 2000's were dreadful. Again, the arrival of small, rather dull retro glasses was a reaction on two decades in which large frames were almost the standard, whether they suited you or not. The dictate was not as severe as it was during the cat eye era as contact lenses were available for everyone who disliked the large frames or glasses in general. Nowadays, glasses frames can be made in a great variety of materials so it's not surprising that the modern cat eye glasses now available in at least some shops are much larger than in the old days.