Fashion’s Enduring Love for the Glove
With the capacity to bring an ensemble to the next level, the opera glove puts unadulterated glamour in the palm of your hand.
If it wasn’t already true enough, after more than a year indoors, one can never be overdressed. As fashion week and red carpet events return from the digital landscape, designers and celebrities are rolling up their sleeves (so to speak). Over the past year or so, the fashion community has seen a strong resurgence of the chic and classic opera glove. While the timeless accessory was certainly spotted on red carpets everywhere pre-pandemic, the latest batch of star-studded events has proven the trend to be more pervasive than ever. From the VMAs and the Met Gala, to the 73rd Annual Emmy Awards and the latest Spring/Summer 2022 shows, L’OFFICIEL tracks the glove’s reemergence.
Emblematic of wealth and status, gloves have been tied to royalty since the age of Tutankhamun (circa 1300s B.C.)—the earliest recorded pair was made of linen, discovered in the ancient Egyptian pharaoh's tomb. Since then, they have been traced to kings, nobility, and high-ranking members of the church. Considering our current, unrelenting obsession with the British royal family, the galvanization of this regal accessory makes all the sense in the world.
By the 14th century, the general public would have adopted the garment as a means of protection in battle and against the elements, to stay warm as temperatures dropped. They served as a necessary safeguard for the upper echelons as well, though perhaps in a more frivolous manner. While of course providing protection against germs and illness, gloves predominantly preserved the skin, so that any lady of polite society would never be accused of manual labour. The heavier, thicker animal skins were typically utilized by those participating in said labour or by those taking part in physical activities such as recreational horseback riding. Eventually the glove evolved into a symbol of modesty and respect. As sleeves shortened, gloves grew longer in order to perpetuate an upstanding lady’s gentility. With silk and other fine materials intricately embroidered or emblazoned with gold threading, the elite would most often don them where? You guessed it- the opera.
Soon enough, tropes of purity and virtue grew to be less imperative—that is, of course, before American women were ushered back into the home post-World War II. Gloves returned to their previous state of grandeur, landing on the arms of Rita Hayworth and Marilyn Monroe, most famously in her 1953 Gentlemen Prefer Blondes ensemble by costume designer William Travilla. Audrey Hepbrun donned the accoutrement in her iconic Givenchy look for 1961’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s, recently recreated by our queen Beyoncé Knowles-Carter for the jeweler’s latest campaign.
With archival fashion pieces igniting a renewed interest in sartorial nostalgia, many vintage trends are being breathed new life. Calling upon leading ladies of Hollywood’s golden age for inspiration, the new guard of starlets have reimagined the above-the-elbow staple with a modern twist. For the 2021 Met Gala just a few weeks ago, Kendall Jenner recreated Audrey Hepburn’s Cecil Beaton look for 1964’s My Fair Lady while Yara Shahidi and Anok Yai tapped Josephine Baker as their inspiration.
Just a few days ago, designer Manfred Thierry Mugler was celebrated at the Couturissime exhibition at Paris' Musée des Arts Décoratifs, with Russian model Irina Shayk rocking an exact look originally donned by Jerry Hall for Mugler’s Spring/Summer 1997 runway fully clad with the sheer black bicep-length gloves.
While some from the current circuit pay obvious homage to their venerated predecessors, others juxtapose the extravagant accessory with a more casual look, thus confirming certain past ideals hold less water.
Spreading far and wide, gloves made appearances at Rihanna’s latest runway extravaganza for her seductive Savage X Fenty lingerie line as they have many times before. From Rick Owens, Rokh, and Erdem, the finger coverings have saturated the Spring/Summer 2022 runways. However, today’s avant-garde interpretations of the ubiquitous relic have been best represented by that of Balenciaga’s Demna Gvasalia. Kim Kardashian has recently opted for fashion house’s subversive skin tight get-ups everywhere from Kanye West’s various Donda listening parties, to the Met Gala and The Ellen Show.
Other A-list pop icons making a splash in Balenciaga’s sumptuous designs majoritively appear fully clad in the perennial opera glove, from Cardi B to Marge Simpson. In typical Cardi B form, the rapper made her made her presence known at Paris Fashion Week in the most cutting-edge looks, opting for the trendy yet timeless glove in many of her ensembles from Richard Quinn, Balenciaga, and Schiaparelli.
The resilience of the evening glove trend proves its embodiment of unparalleled glamour. The timeless accessory has certainly left an indelible mark on the history of dress and the current state of fashion. Omnipresent on red carpets and runways alike, the glove’s everlasting effect on style only confirms that what goes around, comes around, and the best trends never die.
