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19 April 2014

The Shutter Shades Of The 1980s...

Geeky slatted shades of the 1950s (no, they didn't make a major fashion splash!) and the super sci-fi style design of the 1980s.

Shutter Shades, louvered sunglasses in a range of tempting colours, have become very popular in recent years. Many of the colours seem reminiscent of the 1980s, but that's appropriate because the sunglasses are somewhat akin to a type of fashion eye wear from that decade. These were futuristic looking, streamlined sunglasses, slatted, which slowly made inroads into the fashion psyche after making an appearance in the Glittering Prize Simple Minds pop video of 1982. Then Astrid Plane, of Animotion wore a pair in that band's video for Obsession midway through the decade, and Chris Lowe of the Pet Shop Boys also donned a pair a bit later in that ten year span. A very different design of slatted sunglasses had appeared in America the 1950s, but do not seem to have been adopted by the great and the cool. The futuristic 1980s design, probably largely thanks to the wonder of the pop video, made great waves.

I never wore them in the '80s (they were apparently nicknamed "Venetian Blinders", according to some sources, but I never heard them referred to them as such back then). I just never got round to buying a pair and they would have clashed with my Miami Vice/casuals/sportswear style dress sense anyway. But I liked them and I so love the modern version. They remind me of the good old '80s days (sigh)!

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