Cool shades : the history and meaning of sunglasses

Gill-Brown, Vanessa 1970- (Author).

Summary: "Cool Shades provides the first in-depth exploration of the enduring appeal of sunglasses in visual culture, both historically and today. Ubiquitous in fashion, advertising, film and graphic design, sunglasses are the ultimate signifier of 'cool' in mass culture; a powerful attribute pervading much fashion and pop cultural imagery which has received little scholarly attention until now. Accessible and highly engaging, this book offers an original history of how sunglasses became a fashion accessory in the early twentieth century, and addresses the complex variety of meanings they have the power to articulate, through associations with vision, light, glamour, darkness, fashion, speed and technology in the context of modernity. Cool Shades will be of great interest to students of fashion, design, visual and material culture, cultural studies and sociology, as well as general readers fascinated by this iconic fashion staple"--

Record details

ISBN: 9780857854445
ISBN: 0857854445
ISBN: 9780857854452
ISBN: 0857854453
ISBN: 9780857854636
ISBN: 0857854631
ISBN: 9780857854643
ISBN: 085785464X
Physical Description: print
viii, 177 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Publisher: London, UK ; New York, NY : Bloomsbury, 2015.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references, filmography and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

Introduction : Why write a book about sunglasses? -- Modernity: an onslaught on eyes -- Seeing the blur: perception, cool and mechanized speed (1910-present) -- Seeing the cyborg: eye-shading, cool, and the hi-tech body (1910-present) -- Seeing in the light: "sun"glasses, modern glamor, cool, and celebrity (1920s-present) -- Seeing in the dark: sunglasses and "outsider" cool (1940s-present) -- Heading for the shade: the spread of outsider cool (1950s-present) -- Seeing in the "eclipse": sunglasses, cool and the absence of meaning (late 1950s-present) -- Sunglasses and cool: conclusions.