Gloves are a necessity, but we tend to associate them with snow, cleaning the sink, or playing sports. Yet, formal occasions such as weddings and universe parties are still places for women to wear fashion gloves. Still you will be hard pressed to find anyone but possibly the bride and the bridesmaids wearing gloves at a wedding and even then it would be appropriate for gloves to make no appearance.
As late as the 1960’s the well dressed women wore gloves. Each activity from shopping to bridge required a different pair of glove. Shopping she might wear a pair of pastel goat skin gloves, luncheon brown gloves, and a cocktail party would require long black gloves. Truly fashionable women wore gloves that were custom made to go with each public outfit.
Gloves in their fashion heyday were complex fashion accessory requiring women to keep a head of ever changing glove etiquette. This was not always true. In the early days of glove fashion history they were simply worn to protect the hands.
In the Renaissance, gloves became a statement of a women’s fashion rank and many spent a fortune on elegant gloves various social occasions. Glove etiquette took on some import. All persons were to remove gloves when shaking hands. Then the standard was that only men remove their gloves when shaking hands and women did not. This standard is still applies today, to women wearing gloves as a fashion accessory.
For centuries gloves were given as a New Year’s gift. Gloves were expensive so often money was given so that the recipient could save up for the right pair. The term “glove money” became part of common usage. Gloves were often considered a medical necessity when perfumed as it thought the scent ward off diseases such as the plague. Gloves for women were perfumed with garden herbs such as rosemary and lavender. Men preferred to scent their cloves with scents such as cedar or pine.
Gloves in the 15th and 16th century were seen as essential wear for both men and women in the upper classes when being seen in public. Incredibility intricate embroidery embellished the gloves of the upper classes. Some nobility and royalty wore gloves like jewelry adorned with gems. Clergy and Masons used gloves for spiritual rituals to represent a separation of the touch of the carnal world and spiritual world.
Today gloves as fashion statements are pretty much limited to formal occasions, and then are worn only by women. Some men who drive sports cars make a fashion statement by wearing sporty driving gloves. Driving gloves were an important part of driving to help the driver keep a good grip on the steering wheel and before steering wheels were covered with better gripping textures were considered a necessity.
Those who live in colder climates still try to pick winter gloves that match and enhance their outer wear. Business attire calls for understated wool or leather gloves and causal outer attire can be adorned by gloves with fur or even in neon colors. Wearing gloves to any formal occasion is a unique fashion statement a in and of itself that a women may wish to make.
The future fashion of gloves is unknown. Gloves have gone the way for hats for most women as an important fashion accessory. Still if fashion trend setters such as the First Lady show up at a formal event wearing elegant gloves ;those of us who are fans of gloves may get to see them make a come back.
http://www.fashion-era.com/1950s/1950s_2_fashion_accessories.htm History of the wide variety of fashion gloves worn in the 1950’s.
http://www.luxemag.org/fashion-history/history-gloves.html General History of fashion gloves throughout history.
