What Are Browline Glasses?
Browline glasses, also known as vintage eyewear, are a popular style of eyeglass frames that were trendy in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s. The upper part of these glasses, which holds the lenses, is designed to resemble eyebrows framing the eyes. Shuron Ltd first introduced these glasses under their "Ronsir" brand in 1947, and they quickly gained popularity among other manufacturers.
The construction of browline glasses involves making the upper portion (the "brows" or "caps") and temples out of plastic, while the bridge and eye wires (or "chassis") are made of metal. The chassis fits into the brows and is secured with screws.
During the 1960s, aluminum was also used for constructing browlines. In recent years, there has been a resurgence in the popularity of browlines made entirely from one type of metal with less prominent brow portions due to retro fashion trends and hipster culture.
Variation of Browline Glasses
A variation of browline glasses called monobrow lines features a continuous bridge that creates an unbroken line across the top of the frame. This style originated from Sauron's Stag prototype but only enjoyed brief popularity before being replaced by Ronsir as their flagship frame.
Monobrowlines became fashionable in Europe during the 1960s through Amor's Spotlite line but never gained much popularity in America until Bausch and Lomb introduced them as part of their Ray-Ban sunglass collection called Wayfarer Max to diversify their offerings.
However, this design proved unpopular then and was phased out quickly. In recent years, several manufacturers including Oakley reintroduced monobrowlines as a variant after browline glasses regained popularity. Unlike its previous tenure in fashion during the 1980s when it didn't gain much traction among wearers, monobrowlines have become a popular choice among eyeglass wearers in the 2010s.
