Free Shipping On All US Orders.Vintage glasses naturally stand out in a crowd, but Tura glasses are iconic. This brand defined the standard for cat eye glasses in the 1950s, cementing glasses as a fashion accessory. Vintage men’s and women’s glasses from Tura are a tasteful complement to your modern wardrobe or an authentic addition to stage and screen costumes.
At Eyeglasses Warehouse, our selection of Tura glasses from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s offers unique looks for those who crave extraordinary vintage glasses. See what we have available below, and bookmark the page to keep up with new, beautiful vintage styles.
About Tura Glasses
Tura had a humble start in 1938 as the House of Levoy, founded by Monroe B. Levoy in NYC. Their goal was to provide fashionable glasses to opticians with an initial focus on women’s styles. The Tura name came about in 1949 from a single product line that Levoy chose to grow into its own product line.
That first year, Tura offered the COLORTURA kit with 12 separate cat eye frames in different colors with the idea that women could match their glasses to their outfits. The kits were an immediate success. Tura then took fashion further, becoming the first eyewear company to add jewels, stones, and metal filigree to their glasses.
The embellishments enabled Tura to offer only a handful of cat eye frame shapes, but allow buyers to customize their frames with decorations like:
- Colors – Blue, coral, lime green, orange, glitzy silver, and more were just some of the color choices women had to choose from.
- Filigree, Jewels, and Engraving – Tura had many ways to decorate their frames. Rhinestones, filigree brows and temples, and 24k gold accented their glasses.
- “Turanette” – Tura provided decorative pins for women to attach to the temples of their glasses, turning glasses into a hairpiece as well. The pins could imitate a tiara with weaving vines and leaves, or look like a floral hair clip.
- Matching Jewelry – Tura also sold jewelry for women and cufflinks for men made with the same material, design motifs, and jewels as the frames for a matching set.
- Lens Jewels – Later, Tura would introduce metal jewels that attached directly to the lenses and could be changed out as desired.
Tura introduced men’s glasses at the end of the 1950s. Like Tura women’s glasses, the men’s glasses had filigree, embellishments, and options like leather frames to give them a luxury feel. The men’s style was a horn rimmed frame throughout the 50s and 60s.
Already a big name in eyewear, Tura made history in 1966 by being the first eyeglasses manufacturer to partner with a designer. Tura started producing glasses for Christian Dior, creating luxury, avant garde designs throughout the 1960s and 70s.
In 1976, Tura debuted Turalite, a lightweight plastic that was ideal for the large lens glasses that were coming into style. That same year, the innovative double rim glasses – featuring a square lens and eye wire surrounded by a circular eye wire – showed Tura’s innovation even if the fashion didn’t catch on.
Tura continued to keep up – and define – eyewear style through the 70s and 80s with the Tura Disco and Million Dollar lines. All of their designs kept true to their original styling, incorporating jewelry and decoration to personalize high-quality basic frames.
Tura’s dedication to matching glasses frames to fashion means that you can find vintage Tura glasses to match any taste. You can have colorful cat-eye glasses, haute couture with the Tura Dior glasses, or embellished vintage glasses to match your jewelry. The high-quality Tura aluminum and acetate frames we sell at Eyeglasses Warehouse are still in good condition and ready for years more wear.
Find your unique pair of vintage Tura glasses on our website and come back often as we reclaim more one-of-a-kind Tura styles.