Girls Who Wear Glasses – 1940s Beauty Tips

Vintage advice for bespectacled girls 1943 –

Girls Who Wear Glasses - 1940s Beauty Tips

AO-Numont-Frame-Ad-from-a-1940-AO-Vision-Magazine

We generally flee like mad from statistics, but the other day we ran smack into some figures on women’s eye-glasses that sent us dashing out to find out more about them.

1940s-Girls-Who-Wear-Glasses

Do you know that you and some 25,000,000 of your sisters in the United States wear glasses? And that the way you wear your hair and put on make-up can make your glasses conspicuous or a beautiful, integral part of your personality?
Did you know for example that the safest rule is to choose eyeglass frames which follow the general shape of your eye orbit and brows? A 45 degree angle eyebrow above a roundish lens – can make the wearers face look – well – positively funny.

1941-woman-with-glasses - Getty

1941-woman-with-glasses – Getty

Here is short painless list of Do’s and Don’ts for wearing glasses we ferreted out from optometrists, beauty specialists, etc.

Dorothy-Malone---Glamour-in-Glasses-1946-Big-Sleep

Dorothy Malone—Glamour-in-Glasses-1946-Big-Sleep

Don’t think of your glasses as a beauty handicap – and buy just any old pair.
Do think of them as a piece of jewellery that can augment your feminine good looks, in terms of color, shape, size as relates to your face and complexion.

1940s Girls who wear glasses - Ava Gardner

Ava-gardner- hanging out in a Hollywood nigth club sporting a beret and-horn-glasses-1948—photo by-Allen-Grant

Don’t let your eyebrows extend beyond – or stop short of the end of your frames.
Don’t let your rouge end in a sharp line beneath your glasses, as it calls attention to them.Blend rouge smoothly.

Ingrid-Bergman---Spellbound-1945

Ingrid-Bergman—Spellbound-1945 – glasses glamour

Don’t forget that paleness becomes pastiness when glasses are a part of the facial picture. Wear mascara to make your eyes look big and beautiful; lipstick to make you look vital and alive.

Janet-Leigh-1948 wearing glasses

Janet-Leigh-1948 wearing glasses

Don’t wear your hair so that glasses seem to nestle in it. brush your hair up from the temples in a soft line – it much more flattering. Low bands and busy side-curls are out !

1940s Girls with Glasses - Library of Congress

Woman with glasses operating a hand-drill-at-the-North-American-Aviation-1942-LOC

Try some of the new colored butterfly frames in soft blues and greens and pinks !

That’s all !
Text©Glamourdaze

Originally published in “Salute” newsletter published by the Augusta Arsenal
Featured Image courtesy of the Optical Heritage Museum 

Read the Concise Illustrated History of 1940s Fashion – 1940 to 1949
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Also read: Beauty advice Film for Women with Glasses
Hollywood Eyes- Vintage 1930s Film
Sunglasses – 20th Century’s Coolest Accessory
The Top 20 Movie Glasses