MovieChat Forums > The Affair of the Necklace (2001) Discussion > Sunglasses?

Sunglasses?

posted 14 years ago by ClassicMovieholic
3 replies | jump to latest

I just gotta' ask, did French Courtiers actually wear sunglasses? I know they had eyeglasses and tinted glass, so it's entirely possible, but is there any evidence that Marie Antoinette or other followers of fashion wore them? I have made an amateur study of eighteenth century fashion and culture, and have never found anything about it in image or text. Wikipedia claims that an eye-doctor in the mid eighteenth century was producing tinted glasses theorizing that green and blue tints could correct eye conditions, but that they were not intended for shielding sunlight, and certainly not for fashion, which is the way this film presents them. So...does anybody know something I don't?

[–] murphy_fan 13 years ago

I would consider myself an amateur French historian...and sunglasses definitely did exist. Though as you mentioned, they weren't the sun-shielding glasses of today. Marie-Antoinette and those of the high court at Versailles were purveyors of new fashion. Sunglasses were an English accessory and only those in high prestige had the audacity (and money) to try and start new trends.

[–] peahen78 9 years ago

I came here to ask the same question. The quite modern-looking sunglasses were distracting.

[–] MsEmmaFrost 8 years ago

Well, we know Robespierre wore blue-tinted glasses to shield his eyes from the light, but those also were corrective glasses, so win-win.