Browline glasses

Browline glasses are constructed with the upper portion of the frame thicker than the lower, simulating eyebrows, or otherwise drawing attention to the wearer's natural brow line.

Monobrowlines are a variant of browlines in which the bridge is contiguous with the caps, creating a solid, unbroken line across the top of the frame.

[3] The first browlines, sold under the "Ronsir" model name, had interchangeable bridges, eyewires, and "brows," allowing wearers to completely customize the size, fit, and color of their glasses.

For a period in the 1950s, plastic brows designed to emulate wood grains became popular, with Victory Optical offering models that allowed wearers to fit different caps to coordinate with different clothing.

[3][6][7] Many famous people from the mid-20th century are pictured wearing browlines, including black liberationist Malcolm X, Kentucky Fried Chicken founder Colonel Sanders, president Lyndon B. Johnson (most notably in his national statement regarding the signing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act), Vince Lombardi, Josemaría Escrivá, Josip Broz Tito (President of Yugoslavia) and others.

[6] However, the general backlash against the culture and fashion of the 1950s and 1960s which had begun with the hippie subculture led to a rapid decline in the popularity of browlines, which had come to carry undesirable conformist connotations.

Demand suddenly rose between 1978 and 1980, as the anti-disco backlash affected the until-then popular Aviators and Teashades, which became associated with the fashion of the time.

In the mid-1980s Bruce Willis wore a pair of Shuron Ronsirs with tinted lenses on the series Moonlighting, leading to a surge in demand for browline sunglasses.

The influence of the television series Mad Men on the fashion world led to several eyeglass manufacturers offering browlines to meet demand for 1960s inspired frames.

[8] Art-Craft optical still features the Clubman model on their webpage, although the company no longer manufactures the frame, and now only sells remaining parts from the factory.