Throughout the years, the human race has evolved in many ways. It’s amazing to see how one idea has morphed into amazing inventions. From a glasseshistory.com article, it says that sunglasses were invented around the 12^th century in China. They used a slab of smoked quartz to help shield their eyes from the sun and even to hide emotions from other people when having social interactions (talk about shady, am I right?). Only the rich could afford this luxury at the time, but through the history of the world sunglasses are now everyday necessities for most people to keep their eyes from getting damaged. Let’s take a look into the past 100 years to see how sunglasses went from a necessity to a fashion accessory.

Casey Stengel, an outfielder for the New York Dodgers, is wearing a pair of round sunglasses with a metal wire frame.

Does this face look familiar? This is from the film “The Great Gatsby” set in the roaring 20s as Jordan Baker (played by Elizabeth Debicki) sets her look with a tortoise-colored round frame. As you can see, the round frame remains the main style for the sunglass industry.

This is the start of “The Golden Age of Hollywood” where sunglasses are now seen as a fashion accessory due to the many movie celebrities that live in California. Fun fact: This is also the decade where Ray-Ban is born, along with the famous Aviator frame that people love and wear today!

When the “cat's eye” style starts to make its way, but not just yet. In the '40s you see a lot of women with frames that are doing something extra, from thicker frames to a flower petal and other interesting-shaped frames as you can see in the picture above.

Here it is! The famous “cat's eye” style is now more of a popular trend. As you can see in the picture, the lenses are more narrow and the frame has that signature point that a lot of people like because of its sassy, fun look.

Now that we’re entering into the '60s, you will see the “Jackie O” style. Jacqueline Kennedy (President John F Kennedy’s wife) wore this style, creating a fashion trend for the decade!

Looking into the '70s, this is when the human rights movement started to escalate. A lot of celebrities such as Donna Summer, Cher and many other people are seen wearing the big round frame—or as many call them, "bug-eye” glasses.

Were any of you wondering when these bad boys would make an appearance? Yes, the famous Ray-Ban Wayfarer frame takes a fashion statement of this decade, along with many frame styles that have the black square look. How many times have you seen this frame in an '80s movie?

Now, on to the '90s—a special decade for fashion that a lot of us try not to look back on, but here it is. Now, at this point there are a lot of styles out and about in the world, but I feel like this style has a perfect image of the decade, as the lenses start to come in more colors and the oval wire frame comes into play. And what better way to represent this decade than a picture of young Mary-Kate and Ashley rocking their denim jackets!

As the era of "futuristic" style comes into play, so does the shield frame. You see many of the television socialites and celebrities like Beyonce, Kim Kardashian and Bono rock this look along with many other women and men of this decade.

Here we are in the present, where most of the frames I listed above are worn and adored by everyone. As this decade is very diverse with trends of the past and present it can be tricky to pick out the definite style for this era. In my opinion, the best frame that represents the 2010s would have to be the Erika frame from Ray-Ban. Along with Ray-Ban, many other sunglasses companies use this style as well. When I see the Erika frame, I think of it as a “modern blast from the past”. And what I mean by that is, the round frame is seen as a vintage style, and obviously it does have that, but due to the top half not having much of a harsh curve the frame gives it its own look. Adding that the sunglasses have a plastic frame with a matte finish and wire sides that gives this style the modern look that people love to have.