Description:
This photograph featuring model Lilly Fernandez using sunglasses as a mirror to apply lipstick was published in LIFE magazine, March 22, 1948. The article is entitled, “Mirror Glasses: One-way lenses let wearer look out, keep others from looking in.” Reflective sunglasses were new at the time. They were created by bonding a thin coating of chromium to the outside surface of standard glasses. The designer, New York optician, Monroe B. Levoy called them “Kool Krome” and hoped they would be popular with beach loungers, golfers, motorists and skiers. According to LIFE, wearers could enjoy “complete ocular privacy.”