Most sunglasses do not have an interesting back-story, but that’s sure not the case with Ray Ban aviator sunglasses. The most copied style in the world, the brand was patented way back in 1937 by a company you may have heard of: Bausch & Lomb.
This American manufacturer has been in existence for over 150 years now, and is still going strong. The name of the product comes from the phrase “banish rays”, which makes sense in that even the prototype was designed to filter out infrared and ultraviolet rays. A more palatable name was needed for marketing purposes, and the famed Ray Ban aviator sunglasses came into being.
In fact, the sunglasses are so famous and are associated so closely with all things Americana, that Time magazine once included them in a collection of symbols and products instantly recognizable as American, along with Harley Davidson, Coca-Cola and Heinz Ketchup.
The oversized, dark lenses of aviator sunglasses were developed specifically for the US Army and Navy. At the time, Bausch & Lomb was supplying flying goggles, but these light-weight metal and wire glare-reducing sunglasses (which hook around the ears for more stability and protection of the eye from debris) replaced the goggles.
Although the next reason why pilots preferred the sunglasses to goggles is more about vanity than anything else, it was still a valid complaint. The glasses did away with the sort of raccoon look, by allowing pilots’ faces to tan a bit more evenly, thus reducing the stark contrast between a sun-darkened face and white around the eyes.
In fact, these are the sunglasses worn by WWII’s Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in the Southwest Pacific, General Douglas MacArthur. As images of the war’s most decorated soldier (often in his aviator sunglasses) were seen round the world in newspapers and on television, the association between the glasses and American hero grew.
Nowadays, the sunglasses are seen on celluloid heroes and celebrities like Tom Cruise, as well as about 6 million people who buy them every year. It’s not just men, of course, who wear aviator style glasses and their variations: women have embraced the look including Madonna and Britney Spears.
The slight bulge of the lenses is a design feature that prevents as much light as possible from entering the eye. For this reason, the style has also been adopted by police and other law enforcement officers who handle weaponry. Being able to see clearly, minimizing distractions caused by light, can truly mean the difference between life and death for these officers.
