Glove Story

Jean Paul Gaultier

When I was approached by Early American Life magazine to write an article on the history of gloves, I didn't know how I would fill my word quota, but I plunged into the assignment full of enthusiasm for a subject that had fascinated me ever since I began collecting vintage gloves for the Mobile Millinery Museum &Costume Archive (we have several hundred pair of 19th & 20th century gloves (doeskin, silk, rayon, leather, fur, satin & velvet) in an array of colours that Crayola® would envy.   

Did you know …  

·        Etiquette dating from the early 1600's dictated that wedding gloves should be sent out to friends and family with the announcement of nuptials.

·        Mourning gloves stood in for funeral invitations. 

·        Archaeologists exploring the tomb of King Tut, found linen gloves amongst the artefacts buried with him.

·        Feudal landlords bestowed working gloves on their tenants at harvest time.

·        Catherine de Medici introduced gloves to the French court when her personal perfumer devised a manner of infusing leather with fragrance. (tanners had previously relied upon urine or foul-smelling brains).  

I pulled an Edwardian tuxedo out of the archives yesterday, in preparation for a series of Titanic-era costume exhibits that will begin this week. In the breast pocket was a pair of gentleman’s gloves in doe-skin leather with contrast stitching. I guess no-one had thought to check the pockets when the piece was accessioned.

I was thrilled to find them.  

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