Gloves

Originally in use by the Egyptians and in some areas of Asia, gloves arrived from there in Greece and Rome. They were first used rarely as an elegant accessory, rather like a symbolic instrument, full of messages during ceremonies, especially following their diffusion after the Barbarian invasions. In the Middle Ages, the glove was part of the rite of the feudal investiture, a sign of trust in the woman to whom it was given or of scorn if thrown away. The first women’s gloves appeared in the 9th century in silk or wool, closed at the wrist by three small buttons, or with a large cuff and often lined with fur. They were often worn in leather for falcon hunting. Roger II, crowned King of Sicily, donned gloves similar to those of ancient Greece, decorated with thin embroidery in gold leaf of an angel between two pheasants. For dignitaries, gloves were worn in white leather. In 1200, Italy was already renowned for its particularly decorated gloves, the skin tanned with perfumed essences. It was suspected that the skin was sometimes tanned with poison. In 1300, gloves became commonly used. Pompous leather gloves, woven with golden threads, marked the first century of Renaissance, also for their precious stones. Scarlet, violet, and green would distinguish the church hierarchy: the Pope’s glove is white with pearls. There were also cloth gloves, called cirotheque. In 1500, instead of applying gems on gloves, cuts were made on them to let cabochon rings appear on fingers. Women’s gloves, almost entirely in golden yarn, were expensive and rich that sumptuary laws ruled their possession. It was forbidden to own more than 32 pairs of gloves. In 1600 there was a large variety, in satin, velvet, and cloth, enriched by laceworks, fringes, and embroideries. In 1700 utility was the primary consideration, without forgetting elegance. Feather linen gloves were very diffused, but, generally speaking, gloves were almost always held in hands. Ice-colored, shiny, glace-kid gloves cost double of those in kid. If they were in beaver skin, it was better to rely on the glove maker to wash them without causing damage. Women owned an extraordinary number of gloves, even 72 pairs with a huge range of styles. They would reduce or lengthen in inverse proportion to the length of the dresses’ sleeves. Tight and long, that was how they were appreciated by the Directory’s fashion, to veil bare arms when donning evening dresses. For men, who wore only one, just one color persisted, white. In the first 30 years of 1800, with the return to an elitist clothing, gloves became part of a researched style and were chosen to match the acid colors of clothes, such as bergamot peal, boreal blue, or flesh-color, while thin ribs, woven tulle inlays, and silver embroideries indicating their Neapolitan origins. Naples has become the main supplier of this elegant accessory, not only in Europe, but also in the United States. In this period half-gloves in fishnet has become very fashioned. In the mid 1800s, an elegant lady would never be seen without gloves, short, mostly closed by two small buttons, sometimes exceptionally long, decorated around the wrists by small flower, lace, or ermine garlands. Gloves were present in the home, often half-gloves in wool, rarely in velvet. The alternative to Scotland’s thread gloves were leather yellow gloves (they has become a synonym of the gentleman and unsuspicious thief) for the day, white for the evening. At the end of the 1800s, gloves were no longer an absolutely necessary symbol of elegance or an instrument to protect from cold, they on the role of protecting the hands from skin contact as a sign of distinction and detachment. Several handbooks about good manners started listing the rules about shaking hands with a bare hand. After the fashion revolution of the 1920s of the 20th century, which saw the return of very long gloves, falling loosely on the forearms, gloves started following the taste’s evolutions. They became more complicated with musketeer cuffs, colored inlays, made of crocodile skin, boar skin, they have a straw palm, a leathered back, meeting the needs of driving. They disappeared from daily use in the Winter, and reappeared again in fishnet and in silk for Summer. There was success with woollen gloves among young people, after having being forgotten for years they were back to underline a casual or military look. The last gloves in our memory are sexy and necessary: Rita Hayworth’s in Gilda, very long and flaming.