Lacy and Racy
Ultra-feminine and best seen on slender, delicate hands, lace gloves evoke an era of ruffles, fluttering eyelashes, swishing skirts and wide-brimmed sun hats or even parasols. They have a kind of
Blanche Dubois fragility about them that seems strikingly out of place in the rough and tumble post-feminist world.
I can't imagine ever having occasion to wear them or feeling comfortable in them even if I did but then, I'm not the parasol type. Yet they sell them on Amazon so someone must be wearing them. Perhaps some people wear them ironically, with a leather jacket and bullet belt. More likely it's a kind of retro Madonna thing, to be worn with pseudo Victorian underwear -eg; white bodice and thigh garter. Very
80s. They could also be worn with a wedding dress, cocktail outfit (in black) or dressing up as a Southern belle. For a variation on a theme, there are also fingerless fishnet gloves, which create a slightly different mood and in black especially, lace and net gloves seem just a bit wicked.
Decorative Hands
Ladies fine lace gloves were a feature of the Victorian era, when there was a cultural tendency to portray women as ultra-delicate, virtuous creatures who might faint at the drop of a hat if they caught sight of anything slightly off colour. Their femininity was prized and (unrealistically) eulogised.
Throughout much of history, gloves have been a symbol of wealth and social position - the fancier the glove, the higher the status. Elaborate gloves signified the wearer was well and truly above lifting a finger to do any sort of manual labour. Apart from their decorative charms, it's the impracticality of lace gloves that made them desirable. They're what used to be called a
frippery.
 |
| Nice. Elaborate leather, satin and embroidered and lace trimmed early 17th century gloves. |
