Evening glove
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Evening gloves or opera gloves are a type of
Women's gloves for formal and semi-formal wear come in three lengths for women: wrist, elbow, and opera or full-length (over the elbow, usually reaching to the biceps but sometimes to the full length of the arm).
The most expensive full-length gloves are custom-made of kidskin. Many other types of leather, most usually soft varieties of cowhide, are used in making full-length gloves; patent leather and suede are especially popular as alternatives to kidskin, and are often more affordable than kidskin. Satin and stretch satin materials are extremely popular, and there are mass-produced varieties as well. More unusual glove materials include leathers made from salmon, python, and stingray.[1]
History
Western world
While the etymology of the term opera glove is unknown, gloves of above-the-elbow length have been worn since at least the late 18th century, and gloves reaching to or just below the elbow have been worn by women in Western countries since the 17th century; in an extant engraving of England's
The opera glove has enjoyed varying popularity in the decades since
They are sometimes worn by entertainers such as can-can dancers and burlesque performers in particular during the performance of a Gown-and-glove striptease. In popular culture, probably the best-known images incorporating opera gloves are those of Rita Hayworth in Gilda (1946) Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), Cinderella from Disney's 1950 film Cinderella and Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's.
Japan
In Japan, some ladies wear long gloves all day in summer, to protect the ideal irojiro (色白), or fair skin, which represents beauty, grace, and high social status (as well as purity and divinity in local religions), and avoid any form of tanning.[4]
Gallery
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Coca cola advertisement from c. 1900
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Rita Hayworth from the Gilda trailer in 1946
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The Ladies home journal, advertisement from 1948
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Jacqueline Kennedywearing evening gloves at a state dinner in 1962.
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Natalie Wood portraying stripper Gypsy Rose Lee in 1962.
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Actress Sophie Marceau wearing evening gloves, 1996.
See also
References
- ^ Snaije, Olivia (March 4, 2014). "Blood, sweat and silk on the long road to Paris Fashion Week". CNN. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
- ^ ISBN 9780759121508.
- ^ "Make Your Debut At The Vienna Opera Ball-Dresscode". upstream.wiener-staatsoper.at. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
- ^ Mowbray, Nicole (2004-04-04). "Japanese girls choose whiter shade of pale". London: Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved 2010-05-02.