men’s eyewear fashion is the history of seeing – and being seen

If you’ve been on the internet lately, chances are you’ve heard an intriguing – and perhaps even startling – descriptor applied to men’s eyewear: “slutty little glasses”.

Coined by online creator and culture critic Blakely Thornton, the term was earlier used to describe the fashionable wire-framed specs sported by actor Jonathan Bailey’s character in the film Jurassic World Rebirth. Lately it’s been applied to a broader range of men’s glasses.

From nerds and nice guys to being the talk of the town, men’s spectacles are having a moment.

But men have worn glasses for both function and fashion for hundreds of years. Whether one lens or two, perched precariously on the nose, balanced on the ears or held in front of the eyes by a handle, eyewear has long been designed not just for seeing but also to be seen.

Eyewear for function

The earliest spectacles may have dated to the late 1200s, though their inventor remains unknown. An early 14th century sermon by a Dominican friar mentions how:

It is not yet twenty years since there was found the art of making eyeglasses which make for good vision, one of the best arts and most necessary that the world has.

Magnifying lenses continue to rank among the top inventions of all time.

Early eyewear aimed to provide sharper clarity to those who pored over texts and manuscripts as scholars of science and religion.

Sharper vision also aided artisans in a time before machine manufacturing. Learning and productivity boomed as people’s working lives were extended, thanks to this groundbreaking invention.

Eyewear and fashion

Eyewear soon moved through a cavalcade of changing forms.

Pince-nez experienced a surge in popularity in the 19th century. They were distinguished by their “pincer” that fastened them to the bridge of the nose.

Lorgnettes, spectacles mounted on a handle, were carried by dandies – exquisitely dressed men of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Opera glasses rose as a fashionable and practical accessory at a similar time. They helped with long distance vision, helping patrons see performers on the stage.

The monocle, a single lens tucked under the eyebrow, became a symbol of class and power in the 19th century. The monocle also flourished as a favourite lesbian fashion adornment in 1920s Paris, the decade in which the Le Monocle nightclub opened on the Left Bank.

And perhaps most fashionable of all, sunglasses were also adopted as accessories from the 1920s onwards by celebrities and style icons.

Men’s eyewear has had big and bold public moments. Legendary musician Sir Elton John’s wacky and wonderful collection – of hearts, stars and coloured lenses – reportedly numbers 250,000.

One of Australia’s best-known wearers of flamboyant frames was Barry Humphries’ Dame Edna Everage character, who was instantly recognisable for extravagant diamanté-studded butterfly glasses.

Other public figures – Buddy Holly, John Lennon, Tupac Shakur, and many more – have driven big moments in men’s eyewear fashion history. Even fourth century priest and translator, Saint Jerome, has been painted (centuries after his death) sporting glasses that could pass as fashionable today.

Wisdom, power and vanity

In their innovation, expense and materials, spectacles became a symbol of status. The powerful Medici family were known to be myopic (short-sighted) and wore the best glasses made in 15th century Florence.

But as glasses could also draw attention to a vision impairment, some men were reluctant to wear them in public. Despite French author Victor Hugo’s poor eyesight, he preferred not to wear glasses when possible. Hugo removed them when sitting for portraits.

Glasses have also long been used as a form of disguise. The female version of the glasses-as-disguise trope is littered across film and television. A character’s beauty – rather than her power – is revealed when she removes her glasses. Think Anne Hathaway’s character Mia in The Princess Diaries, or Tara Morice in Baz Luhrmann’s hit Strictly Ballroom.

The mild-mannered journalist Clark Kent wore glasses as part of his disguise. His superhero alter ego Superman had no need for them (and the internet has also applied the “slutty little glasses” treatment to the most recent Superman film).

Glasses have represented wisdom, intelligence and learning from their early uses by scholars. This perhaps explains why glasses have been framed as nerdy for so long.

But what makes them ‘slutty’?

Wire-framed glasses on men might still be coded as nerdy, but there’s no denying “slutty little glasses” are having a fashion moment – and in doing so, may be challenging contemporary masculine ideals.

Not all who wear them will look like Jonathan Bailey or Superman star David Corenswet. But “slutty little glasses” unsettle the idea that men in specs are weak or unattractive. Instead they suggest something different.

They’re “slutty” because they make men look thoughtful and intelligent, with their attraction being brain over, or as well as, brawn. As culture writer Meg Walters puts it:

It gestures toward the female gaze and indeed the queer gaze. “Slutty little glasses” speak to the girls and gays because they present us with a different type of male hero, one who subverts the traditional tropes of masculinity by finding strength in his intellect and his openness rather than just his machismo.