But why are gloves only worn in winter?

The French language is full of expressions referring to the clothes that dress us: finding the right shoe, wearing the hat, tightening the belt ... But few come up as often in our mouths as the glove: fit like a glove, take gloves , an iron fist in a velvet glove... To tell the truth, today there are more opportunities to talk about gloves than to wear them, as they are becoming rare in our pockets.

At the beginning of the 20th century we were still in the habit of buying pairs of gloves by the dozen. Once worn, they showed stains and creases considered unsightly by those who could afford them. People of the world rarely put them on twice, being able, like King Edward VII, to “use” several per day, these being then suitable for all circumstances.

From the 1960s we noticed a different relationship to this accessory. For example, if in January 1928 the periodical Ganterie presented its readers with very general advertisements, those inserted between the pages of La Ganterie française in January 1965 were for the most part oriented: Modern'gant "the ski specialist", Jonquet gloves “special for skiing”, Eskimo gloves, recommended by an instructor.

They suggest that they were worn less to be elegant or because decorum required it, than because alpine sports made them necessary. The purchase of gloves seemed to have to be justified, to prove that it was not superfluous.

Today, far from the snowy slopes and once we have put aside all the models put on for gardening, DIY or playing sports, they only cover our hands in winter and for the same reason as the others: to protect them – in the present case of the cold. The adornment is no longer secondary, a significant step backwards on the scale of fashion history.

If you want to know more about gloves in terms of style, Nicolò filmed an episode of (Very) Well Dressed on the subject to help you make the right choice.

THE GLOVE: PROTECT OR DEPARE?

All clothing, originally, has a practical function: the hat protects us from the sun, the belt holds our pants in place, the glove protects our hands. The oldest surviving models were found in the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. Twenty-seven in number, they could have been used for archery or driving horses.

Until at least the 17th century, the shape and materials of the glove attest that this protective function presided over their creation: metal gauntlet of knights, dog skin gloves of huntsmen for falcon hunting, gauntlet gloves – piece in a funnel protecting the wrist from sword blows – of the musketeers.

Until at least the 17th century, the shape and materials of the glove attest that this protective function presided over their creation: metal gauntlet of knights, dog skin gloves of huntsmen for falcon hunting, gauntlet gloves – piece in a funnel protecting the wrist from sword blows – of the musketeers.

If the protective gloves of Tutankhamun and the previously mentioned shepherd already had a polychrome decoration, later other models were only decorative.

Some, during the Renaissance, thus followed the fashion for the exhausted for the purpose of revealing rings that they would otherwise have hidden; Needless to say, they didn't really protect against the cold. No more than those held in their bare hands by many of the senior figures portrayed in the 16th and 17th centuries.

When they were masculine, they emphasized the hand of the prince, and therefore his power of command. The painters of the north have left us very beautiful examples of gauntlet gloves decorated with very rich embroidery, the only touches of color on essentially black and white outfits.

In the early 1600s, some Englishmen adopted the habit of wearing models with exaggeratedly long fingers , padded at the ends to visually elongate their hands. They were perhaps more beautiful, but limited in their actions, a sign of idleness.

These accessories also represented a sumptuous expense which put at a distance the working classes contented with woolen mittens while perhaps dreaming of the perfumed leather models that all of Europe was snapping up in the 17th century. At this time they also demonstrated the quality of the gentleman and his mastery of social codes, which only became more complex in the 19th century.

Whether it was hot or cold, a decent man was rarely ungloved but often changed models from one circumstance to another. The man between the wars still did like him.

An article published in November 1928 in Ganterie and entitled "How to dress, how to wear gloves" recommended a pair "in brown kid or putty pork with red stitching" for the afternoon, another "in beige kid or gray suede” to go with the tuxedo, in the evening, “gray suede or white chamois” for a funeral, “brown tanned or very soft chamois” gloves for riding a horse and finally others “wide in kid or lambskin two shades, “chic and practical” for automobiles.

However, in the second half of the 20th century the glove became an accessory which was only worn in very occasional circumstances , such as communion, a wedding, or a social event. For several decades it was already often only hand-held for some of them.

The models pierced at the joints and/or knitted on the back are still worn for a while while driving before disappearing from the glove boxes, which have retained their name but no longer stock the same items.

From abandonment to abandonment, the city glove is now reduced to being nothing more than an item worn exclusively from November to February. And even then, some do without it, ignoring the chapping or making do with their pockets.

THE GLOVE, A SEASONAL AND OUTDATED ARTICLE

At the end of the 1920s, L. Giguet, in an article in “Ganterie”, pointed out “the men who do not wear gloves”, at the forefront of whom he placed the nouveau riche. According to him, they felt too grotesque to wear this “part of male grooming which does not tolerate mediocrity”.

The glove would thus be elitist, a notion in which younger generations have since lost interest, partly explaining why it has fallen into disuse. We wear it in a pinch at -8°C but, come spring, it goes back into the closet. Besides, it would be difficult to associate it with a short sleeve, a question that the elegant people of the 19th century did not ask themselves.

A quality model today still remains a product of a certain price and its cost can present it as an unnecessary expense. Furthermore, as a small and flexible object, the risk of losing it is great and the investment therefore seems inconsiderate.

Non-essential goods were no longer produced for the city during the two world wars, with leather being used primarily for clothing and footwear for soldiers. Civilians have thus become unaccustomed to wearing them and stores selling them.

In 1928 the authors of Ganterie already noticed that sellers were not presenting them enough to customers and that there were fewer advertisements to encourage their purchase.

A columnist from the same magazine that year invited us to find a response to this disenchantment with the glove "in the habits of sport and in the indifference with regard to the etiquette from which we free ourselves in all acts of the sport." worldly life.” Jean Barthet, nevertheless "prince of milliners", proved him right in the 1960s by admitting on the radio that he did not wear gloves because he "often practiced the neglected genre".

Our era has since only become more advanced in this area. While all accessories are becoming rarer and comfort has taken precedence over elegance, the glove, last winter, is condemned by its superfluity. Besides, a “classic” and tight-fitting accessory, what would it look like associated with the “oversized” tracksuit, about to become the uniform of new generations? They could also criticize it for lacking practicality: in the age of smartphones, removing them and putting them back on all day long proves restrictive.

Tactile models have attempted to overcome this but lack precision. We sometimes prefer to do without gloves, considered embarrassing, even during the coldest months of the year. This review is not new. In November 1965, children interviewed by Claude Salvy for La Ganterie Française wanted, above all, ones that could be put on and taken off easily: "It doesn't have to be tight."

If during the Belle Epoque, we would have been looked at for going out without gloves, it is these that raise questions today, at least when the thermometer exceeds 10°C. Formerly worn by everyone, they have now become part of the outfits of individuals who display their originality through them.

The punk and gothic countercultures made them favorite accessories, as did characters with a strong style, such as Michael Jackson and Karl Lagerfeld. The singer's gloves were white and shiny, the designer's mittens decorated with metal plaques, studs and rivets.

Ornaments of their hands, they also protected their fragilities and their complexes: the first concealed an incipient vitiligo, the second the marks of the years. “As a word is enough to reveal the writer, a color the painter, a pair of gloves is enough to reveal the man” (HD, Ganterie, November 1928).