# How did men wear monocles? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 26, 2012, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-men-wear-monocles/635860 "2012-09-26T05:40:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-men-wear-monocles/635860/21 "2012-09-27T16:58:16Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > Like this? > > – _Puttin’ On the Ritz_, Irving Berlin > Huh. 3/4 of a century since that movie. Maybe we are overdue for a revival. Big movie revival [**in 1974**](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co6-tYS9k1U). ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-men-wear-monocles/635860/22 "2012-09-27T16:59:14Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > WAGging, but it seems that a monocle takes a bit more practice to wear with ease and is somewhat less secure. I imagine that the three-point ear-nose-ear support structure of the standard spectacle frame is more stable and comfortable for most people. But then why were monocles _ever_ used? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-men-wear-monocles/635860/23 "2012-09-27T17:19:28Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > But then why were monocles _ever_ used? Half the cost of spectacles? ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-men-wear-monocles/635860/24 "2012-09-27T17:32:27Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > Big movie revival [**in 1974**](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co6-tYS9k1U). I knew someone would mention that. Then there’s this: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG3PnQ3tgzY](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG3PnQ3tgzY) ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-men-wear-monocles/635860/25 "2012-09-27T17:35:18Z")
davidm: > [@](#): > > But then why were monocles ever used? To visit jail, to pay luxury tax, to ride the Short Line, or on chance occasions. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-men-wear-monocles/635860/26 "2012-09-27T17:35:33Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > But then why were monocles _ever_ used? They seem to have originated as a fashion accessory based on the 18th-century [quizzing glass](http://historicalhussies.blogspot.de/2010/08/regency-glasses-and-eyeware.html), which was a hand-held single lens on a handle (the double-lens equivalent was the lorgnette). Sure, if you needed constant vision in correction in both eyes you’d wear spectacles. For just getting a better look at something, though, monocles were more portable as well as more chic. For a certain limited group of people, that is. Note that monocles were always almost exclusively an upper-class male accessory. It’s not like optical-lens wearers in all walks of life were likely to be wearing monocles. For the vast majority of people, any practical advantages and disadvantages of the monocle would be secondary to its gender/class/status implications. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-men-wear-monocles/635860/27 "2012-09-27T20:51:57Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > ((there’s another fashion trend to revive: those swallowtail coats with black & gold striped trousers that ineffectual diplomats used to wear) [Morning Dress.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morning_dress) But those are cutaway coats – swallow tail coats are for evening dress. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-men-wear-monocles/635860/28 "2012-09-27T22:32:22Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > For a certain limited group of people, that is. Note that monocles were always almost exclusively an upper-class male accessory. Also, non upper-class people were just much less likely to be doing things where they needed the optical correction, like reading or doing close-up work. If you’re mucking out the stable, harvesting the fields, or opening the door to the master’s carriage, you probably don’t need a monocle. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-men-wear-monocles/635860/29 "2012-09-27T22:50:50Z")
I read once (I forget where), that lesbians in 1920s-30s England would wear them, as a way to signal others. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-men-wear-monocles/635860/30 "2012-09-27T23:31:35Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > I read once (I forget where), that lesbians in 1920s-30s England would wear them, as a way to signal others. Well, [Wiki agrees with you](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monocle#Wearers), although I’m not sure it was so much a covert lesbian code as a defiant flouting of feminine convention. Monocles are very elegant but I wouldn’t call them unobtrusive in appearance. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-men-wear-monocles/635860/31 "2012-09-28T04:56:35Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Monocles are very elegant but I wouldn’t call them unobtrusive in appearance. They’re about to make a comeback [**among fashion-conscious women**](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-huuk2Kx9tLw/T-sWkeiVxFI/AAAAAAAAQlg/pe00PFM9lS0/s1600/star-trek-voyager-seven-of-nine-borg.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-men-wear-monocles/635860/32 "2012-09-28T05:18:37Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > I read once (I forget where), that lesbians in 1920s-30s England would wear them, as a way to signal others. Und die straight-Frauen [in Deutschland also](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_von_Harden). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-men-wear-monocles/635860.md?page=1)