50's Cat Eye Sunglasses

What 50's Cat Eye Sunglasses Are

They're the picture of true vintage beauty. Teens wore them. Ladies in their thirties wore them. This is one of the few sunglass styles that can reach every generation, every "type" of girl or woman.

The frames are thick plastic, often black, and angle upwards at the outer corners, just like a cat's eyes. In some cases, you may find the wider areas of the frame (at the temples) decorated with rhinestones or some other painted-on design.

Get ready to embrace your inner Pink Lady (whether you're more like Sandy, Rizzo, or Frenchy), because when you put on your new retro sunglasses, you'll feel like you belong on the set of Grease.

Where You Can Find Them

You may have a difficult time finding cat eye sunglasses that are actually from the 1950's unless you just happen to stumble into the right store or go into your mom or grandma's attic and find an old forgotten pair in a trunk. You can, however, find the same style—without paying the price you'd pay for a true vintage pair.

Here are a few places to look: Retro Planet has a large selection of 50's cat eye sunglasses. While these won't do much for your vision, they do offer the UV protection you need. Yep, that's right—even though they aren't tinted, they still offer protection from the sun's rays.

Sadly, you won't be able to pop out the plain lenses in order to have your prescription lenses installed. You'll have to wear these with contacts if you need vision correction, or look to your favorite optical shop for a similar style with your vision correction needs intact.

These are the retro sunglasses you'll absolutely love if you like shiny, girly styles. Most cost about $5.99 to $6.99. They are purely for looks only; there's no prescription. Wear them for fun, to complete your "look," or as part of a costume. Choose from the following styles:

• Sun Glasses Black Cat Ear Reproduction Retro Eyewear: With plastic frames, yellow lenses, rhinestones, and sun protection, what more could you ask for?
• Sun Glasses Fifties Checker Reproduction Retro Eyewear: These are made of plastic like those listed above, but they're black and white checkered with smoke colored lenses. There's also a pink and white pair.
• Sun Glasses Fifties Rhinestone Reproduction Retro Eyewear: Take your pick from Red, White, Black, or Pink. All have smoke colored lenses and rhinestones. These also offer the necessary UV protection.
• Starlette Gray Sun Glasses: These have less obvious diamond jewel accents. Gray frames with gray lenses give this pair a monochrome look any retro girl will love.

Check the Retro Planet website for more styles that live up to the name.

For a really inexpensive pair of prescription sunglasses with 1950's style, check Zenni Optical. They may not have the exact replica of your favorite cat eye frames, but they do have quite a few styles that come close. You can have your prescription lenses tinted and inserted. All you need to know is your prescription and your pupillary distance (see The Sight Site to find out more on how to measure that).

How to Wear Your Retro Glasses

The obvious is a Halloween costume. Don't be afraid to wear them during a normal day! Not only do they lift your face and make you look incredibly on top of fashion, they're available in just about any color or pattern to strike your fancy.

Since they're usually inexpensive, you can have a whole collection of 50's cat eye sunglasses to go with everything in your wardrobe. Granted, you probably won't need that many unless you plan to make this your signature look.

Wear them with skirts (especially pencil skirts for a sexy librarian look), blue jeans (cuffed or not), khakis—anything, really!

If you are only going to buy one pair, be sure to keep your skin tone and hair color in mind. If you're fair with light hair, opt for lighter colors like the gray frame/gray lenses pair listed above. If your skin is darker--or if you're a brunette--you can go for a really standout black pair with rhinestones.