The 20th century has seen the invention of everything from the automobile and the atom bomb to the television and the personal computer. It has witnessed two world wars, a cold war, depression, and personal growth.

But what about the radical changes in eyewear? In the past hundred years, people have gone from wearing monocles, pince-nez frames and upswept Harlequins to rimless looks, P3s, and aviators. Like its shape, eyewear's size changed throughout this century almost as often as apparel's hemlines. Frames were small in the '20s and '30s yet large and glamorous in the '40s. Hippies reintroduced small shapes in the '60s, calling it a radical look; big and bold were the eyewear buzz words in the '70s; and in the '90s small would reign again, this time called vintage.

Perhaps the most significant change to occur this century, however, was eyewear's acceptance into the world of fashion. Optical professionals fought for decades to keep eyewear's image as a medical device intact. But fashion's influence on eyewear was too strong.

Sure, due to medical technology, eyewear today provides superior vision correction to patients everywhere. But now wearers are given a vast array of choices in eyewear shape, color, and design to suit their thirst for fashion.

Here, Eyecare Business takes a look back through 10 decades of eyewear fashion and history. Click on the decades in the box at upper right.