History of Gloves

History of Gloves: Audrey Hepburn

"A pure hand needs no glove to cover it," Nathaniel Hawthorne once said, yet people have been attracted to gloves and mittens since ancient times. The first gloves were developed to fight off the cold and later they were used for gardening and rough work. The ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans all wore gloves. Homer wrote in The Odyssey that Laertes wore gloves while gardening to protect himself from brambles. Often the peasants in these societies wore three-fingered gloves while the nobility wore five-fingered ones.

There is a legend that gloves became fashionable amongst the nobility in Italy in 1071 when the Doge of Venice, Domenico Seivo, married a well-dressed Constantine who liked wearing them. The nobility favoured beautifully decorated gloves that were often adorned with jewels or embroidery and made of fine materials such as leather or fur.

History of Gloves: Gloves and Royalty

The effigies of the medieval kings, King Henry II, Richard I, and King John, all show them wearing gloves decorated with jewels. King John's were also embroidered. Imagine how these gloves glittered with diamonds and rubies amidst the splendour of the Court!

The fashion for jewelled gloves lasted for centuries. Mary, Queen of Scots, owned beautifully made gloves embroidered with gold and silver and decorated with pearls. Queen Elizabeth I also liked these accessories and favored richly embroidered ones that were also decorated with jewels. Nobles gave her many of these as presents. Some were New Year's gifts -- it was apparently the custom of English monarchs to ask their subjects for presents for the New Year.

A Pair of Gloves from the 1600s

Queen Elizabeth I also gave gloves to aristocrats as presents. She gave George de Clifford, the Earl of Northumberland a pair, for example. He had them encrusted with diamonds and must have treasured them as a gift from his Queen.

Monarchs also favored scented gloves, a practice that began in Italy. According to legend, Catherine de Medici's perfumer, Rene de Florentin, put scent on the gloves to hide the smell of the poisonous potions that she used to murder her many enemies. It is more probable that she just disliked the smell of her leather gloves! Catherine is supposed to have introduced perfumed gloves to France. Perfumes used to scent gloves included ambergris, civet, and musk.

History of Gloves: Gloves in Fashion

Who could forget the iconic photos of movie stars such as Grace Kelly and Ava Gardner wearing glamorous opera-length gloves? The photos of a demure Princess Grace or the impeccable Jackie Kennedy wearing short, white and pristine gloves also became iconic. Grace Kelly was so much associated with white gloves that it was apparently possible to tell that an occasion was elegant when she changed into long ones!

This accessory has been fashionable for centuries, although some types of gloves were banned in European countries by sumptuary laws. These were laws preventing the wearing of certain clothing and accessories by "commoners" so as to prevent extravagance and vanity. Rome, for example, banned perfumed gloves in 1560.

Gloves were almost mandatory for women in later centuries and remained so until the 1960s when liberated women grew tired of wearing hats and gloves. Men also wore gloves for evening wear including opera gloves. The lengths and tightness of fashionable gloves varied. In the nineteenth century many chic women wore gloves that were too tight for them so that their hands would be delicately 'cupped.' The coy ladies of nineteenth century paintings are probably just uncomfortable!

Glamorous opera gloves became fashionable in Edwardian times. "The Divine Sarah" (Sarah Bernhardt) liked to wear these gloves to show off her slender arms. They also enhanced her expressive hand movements on stage and she introduced them to American ladies. The American actress Lillian Russell also liked to wear opera gloves -- some of hers were shoulder-length. She caused a sensation when she rode along New York's Fifth Avenue on a gold and silver bicycle wearing white, shoulder-length kid gloves.

According to a lecture by Mr. Merola of the Merola Gloves Company at London Lounge, "The inter-war years saw the most incredible artistic and handcrafted creations as never seen before, once again stimulated by the desires of the upper classes." Unusual materials such as peccary, ostrich and astrakhan lamb, were used to make gloves. The accessories were worn in a myriad of colors.

This stylish accessory has seen a comeback recently. The fall fashion shows featured gloves of all shapes and materials. These included pretty lace ones, long leather gloves and even opera gloves. Layered ones looked especially useful to keep the cold away and were colourful as well. Italian glove-makers have always been highly regarded because of the quality of their materials and craftsmanship. Sermonetta and Gallo are some of the better known brands to choose from if you are interested in buying these accessories for the winter.