Girls Who Wear Glasses - 1940s Beauty Tips

Vintage advice for bespectacled girls 1943 –

We generally flee like mad from statistics, but the other day we ran smack into some figures on girls who wear glasses, that sent us dashing out to find out more about them.

Girls who Wear Glasses - 1940's — Girls who Wear Glasses – 1940’s

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?
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 — Girls who Wear Glasses – 1941-woman-with-glasses – Getty Images

Glasses for Face Shape – 1940’s Style

From Hat’s and Hairdo’s – A 1940’s Style guide ( Ed: which you can download direct to your device!).

Avoid wearing round glasses. Most girls have roundish faces. They make your face appear chubby.
Choose eyeglass frames that are suited to your face shape. The Harlequin or cat eye glasses are particularly feminine. A pleasing up-do hairstyle or pompadour will add glamour.

Do’s and Don’ts for wearing glasses

Girls who wear glasses - Dorothy Malone 1946 — Dorothy Malone—Glamour-in-Glasses-1946-Big-Sleep

Don’t buy just any old pair
Think of glasses as jewelry
Never let your brows extend beyond
Blend rouge beyond lower frame
Wear lots of mascara with glasses
Apply bright lipsticks
Brush your hair up
Choose colorful large spectacle frames

Don’t think of your glasses as a beauty handicap – and buy just any old pair.
Do think of them as a piece of jewelry 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 — Girls who Wear Glasses – Ava-Gardner in a Hollywood night 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 — Girls who Wear Glasses – Ingrid-Bergman—Spellbound-1945 – glasses glamour

Wear mascara to make your eyes look big and beautiful; lipstick to make you look vital and alive.

Janet-Leigh-1948 wearing glasses — Girls who Wear Glasses – Janet-Leigh-1948

Don’t wear your hair down over your glasses. 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 — Girls who Wear Glasses – 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 !

Originally published in “Salute” newsletter published in 1943 by the Augusta Arsenal
Featured Image courtesy of the Optical Heritage Museum

Read the Concise Illustrated History of 1940s Fashion – 1940 to 1949

Further Reading:

Cat Eye Glasses – Vintage Style and Beauty Advice
Retro Sunglasses – Decade-by-Decade Vintage Style
Beauty advice Film for Women with Glasses
Hollywood Eyes- Vintage 1930s Film
Sunglasses – 20th Century’s Coolest Accessory
The Top 20 Movie Glasses