Fits Like a Glove

by

Lauren Roberts

Fashion gloves. Boxing gloves. Surgical gloves. Driving gloves. Baseball gloves. Gloves for motorcycling, gardening, massage, golf, weightlifting. Gloves for work: chemical, surgical, cut-resistant, cleanroom. Sports gloves: cycling, scuba, falconry, aqua, bowling, goalie, ski and snowboarding. Wedding gloves. Police and public safety gloves. Fingerless gloves. Insulated gloves. Wheelchair gloves. Anti-static gloves. Heated gloves. Gloves made of knit, silk, leather, nylon, vinyl, cotton, latex, deerskin, polyester, tricot, rubber, nitrile, PVC, neoprene, performance fiber. Gloves to relieve arthritis and carpal tunnel syndrome and finger pain.

Gloves everywhere! And all through time.

The term glove comes from the Old English word glof meaning a type of garment possessing separate sheaths or openings for each finger and the thumb. But it is likely that finger and hand protection goes back to prehistoric peoples who undoubtedly developed hand coverings for protection while hunting and to ward off cold. And farmers have used them for centuries to protect their hands while clearing land.

In a rather unusual document entitled Curiosities of Literature that was “compiled from the papers of an ingenious antiquary,” Isaac D’Israeli (1766-1848) wrote: “Xenophon gives a clear and distinct account of gloves. Speaking of the manners of the Persians, as a proof of their effeminacy, he observes, that not satisfied with covering their head and their feet, they also guarded their hands against the cold with thick gloves. Homer, describing Laertes at work in his garden, represents him with gloves on his hands, to secure them from the thorns. Varro, an ancient writer, is an evidence in favour of their antiquity among the Romans. In lib. ii. cap. 55. de Re Rustica, he says, that olives gathered by the naked hand are preferable to those gathered with gloves. Athenæus speaks of a celebrated glutton who always came to table with gloves on his hands, that he might be able to handle and eat the meat while hot, and devour more than the rest of the company.

“These authorities show that the ancients were not strangers to the use of gloves, though their use was not common . . . When the ancient severity of manners declined, the use of gloves prevailed among the Romans; but not without some opposition from the philosophers. Musonius, a philosopher, who lived at the close of the first century of Christianity, among other invectives against the corruption of the age, says, It is shameful that persons in perfect health should clothe their hands and feet with soft and hairy coverings. Their convenience, however, soon made the use general. Pliny the younger informs us, in his account of his uncle’s journey to Vesuvius, that his secretary sat by him ready to write down whatever occurred remarkable; and that he had gloves on his hands, that the coldness of the weather might not impede his business.”

Early gloves were more like mittens, many of the them three-fingered rather than five. Most often then were made from the skins of animals, primarily deer or sheep, with the fur inside, and used as protective devices until approximately the eleventh century. But changes were coming. Between 979-1016, German merchants who wanted to import products to England were required to pay a duty of five pairs of gloves to the monarch.

It wasn’t until around the ninth or tenth century that gloves began to become important in Western Europe. According to D’Israeli, the use of gloves by monks had become so universal by the beginning of the ninth century that the church issued a regulation about them, saying they should only wear ones made of sheepskin. It is possible that their introduction may have been due to a simple desire to keep the hands clean for religious rituals, but if so they soon changed to become symbols of authority and power. Their ornamentation became increasingly complex and expensive; bishops frequently wore ones whose backs had been adorned with jewels. Gloves were also used on solemn occasions as part of the ritual of bestowing lands. In 1002, the bishops of Paderborn and Moncerco were given possession of their sees by the receipt of a glove.

After the Norman Conquest of 1066, English royalty and dignitaries wore gloves as a  badge of distinction. Their use as a token became common because not all individuals could write, and gloves were a convenient representative of meaning. A medieval merchant  would throw down a glove to indicate his willingness to trade; a glove presented by a lady to a knight before a tournament indicated her favor. Slapping a glove across the face  or throwing a glove at the feet of an adversary was a challenge that invited satisfaction by duel, a ritual that remained an integral part of English law for hundreds of years. Gloves for hawking, an ancient practice, had long been common. In one recorded instance, 1177, D’Israeli  mentions that “Simon de Mertin gave a grant of his lands in consideration of fifteen shillings, one pair of white Gloves at Easter, and one pound of cummin.”

At the beginning of the thirteenth century, in Coventry, England, some grants required that the grantor a pay yearly rent of white gloves in Easter week. King John, in 1211, granted the town of Sturbridge approval to hold a Michaelmas fair, and as a sign of his approval his glove was hoisted in the air. The closing of that century saw the Earl of Flanders present to King Philip the Fair a glove that represented the surrender of the town of Flanders.

The look of gloves as we know them, dates from approximately the eleventh century, but with some distinct differences. Royalty and church dignitaries wore fantastically jeweled and ornamented ones as badges of distinction. Pearls, gems, semi-precious stones, silk, gold and silver embroideries, appliqués, tassels, bells and fringe were all used. In Fontevrault Abbey, France, the tomb sculpture of Henry II has the dead king wearing wrist-length gloves with an embroidered border and a circle of embroidery or applique on the back of the hand. The Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna has in its collection a wrist-length ceremonial glove dating to 1220, heavily embellished with embroidery, gold applique, pearls, cloisonne and gems. In 1493, the Bishop of Trent left two pairs of gloves when he died, one ornamented with pearls and precious stones the other bearing his monogram and arms as a prince of the Church.

The merely wealthy soon followed, and by the twelfth century, gloves had become a standard part of fashionable dress for women and men. The Book of the Royal Wardrobe of Scotland (1579) mentions a hawk-glove set with twelve rubies, seven garnets, fifty-two great pearls, and the rest set over with small pearls. Henry II of England was buried in 1189 with his coronation robes, a golden crown and gloves on his hands. Gloves were also found on the hands of King John when his tomb was opened in 1797.

These spectacular gloves (above) were made in the early thirteenth century for the coronation of Emperor Frederick II. They were worn by the Emperor at his coronation in 1220. Materials included red silk, gold wire embroidery, pearls, sapphires, rubies and enameled plaques. The palms of the gloves are worked in the design of single-headed eagle, using gold thread and underside couching.

Scented gloves came into fashion around the twelfth century and remained popular until the eighteenth, an enormous help to the perfume industry particularly in Grasse, France. One such recipe for scenting them stated:

Put into angelica water and rose water the powder of cloves, ambergris, musk and lignum aloes; bejamin and carduus aromaticus. Boil these till half be consumed, then strain it and put your gloves therein. Hang them in the sun to dry and turn them often. Do this three times: wetting and drying them again. Or, wet your gloves in rose water and hang them up till almost dry, then grind half an ounce of benjamin with oil of almonds and rub it on the gloves till it be almost dried in. Then grind twenty grains each of ambergris and musk with the oil of almonds and rub it on the gloves. Then hang them up to dry or let them dry in your bosom, and so, again, use them at your pleasure.

Guilds of glove makers first appeared in the 12th century. The first recorded instance of a glove maker was in Perth, Scotland, around 1165. Another guild of glove makers was incorporated in France in 1190, and one in London around 1600. By the seventeenth century, fit had begun to take preference over ornamentation, and London had become the center of the world glove trade. For more than 350 years, from 1462  to 1826, the craft of gloves in England enjoyed protection against foreign imports, but in the nineteenth century the barriers were eliminated, and the number of “masters” dramatically declined. By the time of World War I, new industries, changing fashion and cheap imports had altered the demand for gloves. The industry has never really recovered, though specialized gloves—some of which are listed at the top of this article—remain popular and demand for others,  such as those used in medicine, has soared.

Still, fashion gloves still have fans. One of those is the opera glove (seen on actress Lillian Russell, above). Also known as over-the-elbow gloves, opera gloves are between 19 and 23 inches in length, usually made of kid leather and colored white, ivory or black. They possess a wrist opening with three buttons or snaps. Though their beginnings are clouded, they apparently evolved in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Queen Elizabeth I of England is reported to have worm an 18-inch pair of white leather gauntlets at a ceremony at Oxford in 1566.

But opera gloves really became popular as standard items of fashion during the time of Napoleon I. He was himself a great lover of gloves, and was reported to have no fewer than 240 pairs in his wardrobe. He also appreciated beautiful feminine attire and encouraged Empress Josephine to dress in the height of fashion. Her preference for these long gloves started a nationwide craze that rapidly spread throughout Europe and America.

Beginning around 1810, dress sleeves began to grow longer, and the length of gloves shortened correspondingly. The opera glove experienced a five-decade period of decline as gloves shrunk to wrist-length for daytime wear and elbow-length or shorter for evening wear.

A type of glove called the mousquetaire in French is a feminine adaptation of a style originally developed for use in dueling in the seventeenth century. When it was redesigned for ladies in the later half of the nineteenth century, the glove was made longer, and possessed a opening (usually two to three inches), which was made to be closed with small buttons or snap fasteners. This characteristic feature was used by ladies of the period who would slip their hands out through the opening to eat or drink while keeping the glove on. It was in fact essential because in Victorian and Edwardian times, ladies and gentlemen were required keep their gloves on at all times, even while bathing. And women did not put on or entirely remove opera-length gloves in public; it would have been considered improper.

Until designer Coco Chanel popularized suntans in the early twentieth century, gloves remained an indispensable part of upper class elegance, since suntanned hands represented the manual labor associated with the lower classes.

In the so-called Golden Age of Hollywood, the 1920s and 1930s, Vivien Leigh, who hated the way her hands looked, would wear gloves as often as she could. Myrna Loy preferred to leave hers bare. In the 1950s and early 1960s, when designer Christian Dior and actress Audrey Hepburn dominated fashion, gloves were an essential component of dressing well. I think I recall (my “memories” likely having come from photographs in albums and books) that going downtown to have lunch or shop required dressing up as did church every Sunday.

Gloves completed a woman's grooming during this decade.  While it was no longer scandalous to be without them in public, neither was a woman considered properly accessorized. At least it was easier because gloves now came in various colors and easy-care materials. Still, with the hippie revolution of the 1960s and the robust, young fashions of Mary Quant and others, gloves just about died out. The few that were worn were functional, used for keeping the hands warm rather than for fashion.

As for Rees & Rees and  Carmichael Bros., they not only no longer exists but apparently have disappeared from the history books. Information on them is as difficult to find as their bookmarks; These are the only two for these firms that I have seen in all my years of buying, and I treasure them especially since they are the only gloves I own.

But for anyone who still enjoys them, here are some glove care tips:

When putting on a glove, avoid pulling by the cuff, as it pulls the glove  out of shape and can strain the fine stitching. Instead, fold back the top of the glove and carefully insert the fingers, smoothing each one gently downwards towards the  base of the finger.

To remove a glove, gently pull the glove from the top of each finger and  thumb, sliding it off a little at a time.

After use, lightly  pull your gloves back into shape and, where practical, store them laid flat. If by chance your gloves do become damp or rain spotted, carefully smooth them into  shape and lie them flat on a towel to dry naturally. Never dry your gloves in direct  sunlight or with any form of artificial heat.

Bookmark specifications: Rees & Rees
Dimensions: 6" x 2" (at its widest and longest points)
Material: Lightweight cardboard
Manufacturer: Rees & Rees (New York)
Date: Early-to-mid 2oth century
Acquired: eBay 

Bookmark specifications: Carmichael Bros.
Dimensions: 5" x 1 1/2" (at its widest and longest points)
Material: Lightweight cardboard
Manufacturer: Carmichael Bros. (Iowa)
Date: Early-to-mid 2oth century
Acquired: eBay 

Almost since her childhood days of Mother Goose, Lauren has been giving her opinion on books to anyone who will listen. That “talent” eventually took her out of magazine writing and into book reviewing in 2000 for an online review site where she cut her teeth (as well as a few authors). Stints as book editor for her local newspaper and contributing editor to Booklist and Bookmarks magazines has reinforced her belief that she has interesting things to say about books. Lauren shares her home with several significant others including three cats, nearly 1,300 bookmarks and approximately the same number of books that, whether previously read or not, constitute her to-be-read stack. She is a member of the National Books Critics Circle (NBCC) as well as a longtime book design judge for Publishers Marketing Association’s Benjamin Franklin Awards. Contact Lauren.