John Lennon wore the iconic round metal glasses in subtle variations over the decades. If you look at old photos of him you will notice some of his glasses wear totally round while others had been a little flatter on top. The different styles of glasses he wore were the following:
- Teashade glasses
- Windsor spectacles
- Panto style glasses
All of his glasses have a very delicate metal that holds the lenses. Some of those frames had a plastic layer made out of acetate which covered the metal of the round elements. A lot of John Lennon’s glasses were rather small with a lens width between 42 and 47mm. This is especially true for the round glasses he had.
The panto-style variants were a little bigger than that. One of the actual manufacturers for example was Inspecs. They still produce glasses with this iconic shape to this day. Most of the glasses of John Lennon had nose pads mounted on them. Sone of them had none. Those glasses frames have become rare these days. The bridge only touches your nose then.
These days there are glasses made which are inspired by John Lennon. The vintage “John Lennon Collection” includes glasses shapes worn by the musician, all named after songs by the artist and the band ‘The Beatles’.
What Glasses Did John Lennon Wearing When He Was Shot?
The famous glasses John Lennon wore were the Hakusan Original Mayfair Model sunglasses on December 8th, 1980.
Different Glasses Styles of John Lennon Over the Years
When you think about the glasses of John Lennon you probably only think about round metal glasses in slight variations. Some are totally round while others are a little flatter on top of the frames. That is called Panto style. But throughout history, he also wore other styles.
For example in 1963 John Lennon performed with the Beatles on Saturday Club with thick dark plastic glasses. Here and then he also wore very small metal glasses with a rectangle shape in combination with lightly tinted glasses. The iconic style with the round glasses pops up more and more after the year 1966.
This is the time when you see a lot of pictures with the Windsor ring glasses. Those round glasses are slightly bigger in combination with a plastic frame covering the round metal parts of the frame. The top of the glasses was a little flatter too. The year after in 1967 the glasses became slightly smaller and the top of the glasses became rounder.
In this time the glasses became all metal and the Windsor ring vanished. This is the iconic style you probably think of when it comes to John Lennon-style glasses.
At the beginning of the 70s, the style of the glasses frames changed marginally to slightly bigger ones again with a little flatter top of the frames (Panto Style). This is also the one you will see the most until 1980. The style of his glasses was truly iconic.
All those different styles were rebuilt in the John Lennon collection. The models were named after the iconic songs. If you are just looking for similar glasses most manufacturers produce glasses in this style. For example, Ray Band produces the Round Metal RB 3447 001 (sunglasses) which is a top seller to this day. You can get tinted without a prescription or of course with your prescription without a tint (RX3447V – 2500).
Buying the Glasses John Lennon Actually Owned on Auction
When you have a little cash sitting on the sides and want to buy the old glasses of John Lennon you just need for an auction. In London for example a broken pair of sunglasses sold for 150 000$. Of course this was not the only pair of glasses he owned. Other pairs sold for up to 200 000$.
As you can see people are still fascinated by his style and of course by his music. The style of John Lennon’s glasses will influence manufacturers for decades to come.