I have been thinking about this post for quite awhile and was excited to see such an abundance of gloves in the Spring 2020 Haute Couture Collections. I particularly love the play of color.Gloves… Always Classic, Always New

Historical gloves…

Tudor glove…

From 1600’s V & A collection

18th Century gloves…

Wooden glove molds are very collectible…perhaps you will find one at Randolph Street Market could be a fun collection.

When I started my career in retail all ladies wore hats and gloves and, I must admit, I still like the finished look a glove gives to an outfit. Of course, in Chicago, we need them for warmth and why not have a fun color, pattern, embellishment or a fingerless pair to allow for texting!

The fashionable ladies of Downton Abbey…

Elsa Schiaparelli’s whimsical surreal gloves, way too much fun, don’t you agree!

And inspired by Schiaparelli, designed by Salvador Dali and photographed by Cecil Beaton for Vogue

Glove purses by Hannah Lamb

Or perhaps a hat or two…

From the brilliant Rei Kawakubo for Comme Des Garçons

Or…

Or make your own…

Let’s travel to the 1970’s and, the doyenne of American Fashion, Bonnie Cashin’s revolutionary gloves…

“It was Cashin’s sixth decade in design. As she entered the 1970s, and her seventies, Cashin was something of a grande dame and the last of an old guard. Referred to as the country’s “longest blooming perennial designer,” … Cashin continued to be a top choice for companies in need of a revitalized image. The plea from Crescendoe-Superb, then the country’s oldest-running glove manufacturer still operated by its founding family, was among the most memorable for its lack of pretense. “We think our gloves are very bad and corny,” wrote the company’s owner, asking Cashin, “would you undertake designing your beautiful concept of what these … [designs] should look like, instead of our bad ones?” When the collection launched in 1972, the company wrote of her designs in twenty-two-inch-long lime suede (for layering as sleeves under ponchos) and grommet-knuckled kidskin (for fending off a purse snatcher), “these are the most expensive and beautiful line of gloves ever designed.”

Copy and following three photos courtesy of my friend, Dr. Stephanie Lake, Owner, The Bonnie Cashin Archive.

Also from the Bonnie Cashin Archives and in Bonnie’s own handwriting, courtesy of Dr. Stephanie Lake.

Michael Jackson’s iconic glove

Karl Lagerfeld in signature mitts…

Two of the most iconic gloves on film on two super stars of the silver screen…

Rita Hayward’s “strip tease” in Gilda! Fabulous….

And the delicious Marilyn Monroe performing “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend” in Gentlemen Prefer Blonds!

And on the covers of magazines…

A “pair” of books on gloves…

And a “bouquet” of gloves…

All photos, unless otherwise noted, from Pinterest photo credits unknown. Reprinted with permission from Randolph Street Market Blog, January 2020. FASHION TREND REPORT EXCLUSIVELY FOR RANDOLPH STREET MARKET BY NENA IVON, nenasnotes