So I've got a question about something from "before my time"...
I had a customer come in this week, an older guy, and he wanted to ask about gradient tinting. And he started talking about how back in the 70s and 80s he used to get "light-tinted" lenses, and how nobody wears them any more.
Anyhow, it did remind me of something I've wondered about for a few years - I've seen on old movies and TV shows (the 70s and 80s are before my time), how some people used to wear tinted lenses indoors. I'm not talking about sunglasses, and I'm not talking about the standard gradient "indoor/outdoor" lenses, I'm talking about this:
Sometimes it was like a faded peach or rose color, almost like the old photobrown lenses when they don't quite get clear indoors any more:
Other times it was straight up yellow or amber (like blue-blockers, except why would anyone need to wear blue-blockers indoors?):
And by the late 80s it was a purple/violet gradient:
This isn't the first older customer I've had ask me about this. We offer Transitions and Corning, mirror, and some rather bold color tints (i.e. blue, yellow, etc.), but we don't offer like you see above, and I honestly can't remember seeing anyone in my lifetime wearing lenses like those, not as far back as the early 90s. The other guy I work with is young too, and can't remember seeing them either.
So those of you who've been at this for some time...what was with this trend? And what's the proper name to call these sorts of tints by (other than "those old-timey barely-tinted lenses)"?
Just curious!
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