Do You Love Wearing Cat-Eye Glasses? You Should Know The Story of Altina Schinasi And How She Ended up Making Them

Google doodle honoured the American artists whose age old glasses design is still in vogue.

Cat-eye or round, what should be the shape of the glasses is an important choice to make and people wearing spectacles will relate. It is a whole process to have that one right shape that suits the face and also should look trendy. Thanks to Altina Schinasi, we all have that one cat-eye glasses that never go out of style. Marking the 116th birth anniversary of the American artist and the inventor is most known for designing the Harlequin eyeglass frame — known today as the widely popular “cat-eye” eyeglass frame.

WHO IS ALTANI SCHINASI, THE WOMAN BEHIND CAT-EYE GLASSES?

Schinasi was born on this day in 1907 in Manhattan, New York to immigrant parents. Her mother was a native of Salonica (then in the Ottoman Empire) and her father was a Sephardic Jewish Turk. After graduating high school, Schinasi studied painting in Paris, which sparked her appreciation for the arts. Once back in the US, she studied art at The Art Students League in New York and took a position as a window dresser for multiple stores on Fifth Avenue. During this time, she found herself working with and learning from prominent artists she admired such as Salvador Dalí and George Grosz.

Already an established and successful artist, Schinasi also ventured into the world of film. In 1960, she produced a documentary about the celebrated artist and her former teacher George Grosz titled George Grosz’ Interregnum. It was nominated for an Academy Award and won first place at the Venice Film Festival.

In her later years, Schinasi did not slow down. She wrote and published her memoir The Road I Have Traveled (1995), volunteered as an art therapist, and even invented unique portrait chairs and benches which she called Chairacters.

THE STORY THAT LEADS TO THE CREATION OF CAT-EYE GLASSES

It is only today that there are myriad of options to choose from when it comes to spectacle frames. Back in the 90s, there were pretty limited choices. That’s when it hit Schinasi that it is even more limited for women. At the window display of a nearby optician’s office, she noticed that the only option for women’s glasses tended to be round frames with mundane designs.

Thinking as to why not women have the liberty to explore more trendy frame designs, Schinasi took inspiration from a carnival! Yes, once she saw people in Venice wearing Harlequin masks during a Carnevale festival. Those pointed edges flattering to the face fascinated her eye and mimicked the design. But that was not it.

During that era, such ideas were not taken seriously. So, when the artist approached different manufacturers, they all closed doors and rejected the idea saying it was too “edgy.” Not giving up,  she struck luck when a local shop owner believed in her vision and asked for an exclusive design for six months. To their delight, the Harlequin glasses quickly became a success, earning Schansi much publicity. By the late 1930s and through the 1940s, Harlequin glasses became an overwhelming fashion accessory among women in the US. Schinasi was awarded the Lord & Taylor American Design Award in 1939 for her invention, and was recognized by major magazines including Vogue and Life.

All thanks to Schinasi and her resilience that we the trend  that never goes out of fashion!

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