The Gloved One

Before Michael Jackson was even out of diapers, any sight of a gloved Jackie Kennedy was enough to send the paparazzi flying for their flash bulbs.

Here was a woman of such style and grace who just made us all think wearing gloves in the heat of a summer morning was as normal as breathing.  Never mind the sweaty palms the smudges on our white cotton fingertips, having to take one glove off to have a smoke (probably in the grocery store) and inevitably loosing one of a precious pair in the process.  We all wore gloves anyway.

Our mothers wore gloves to church, to go shopping in the city, to tea parties with friends, hey, they probably wore them to carry their little American Tourister compact bags to the labor room to give birth to their little glove wearing daughters, like me.

Then one day, not quite sure when, we just stopped seeing gloves.  Fashion folks, who chronicle things like this, say it was around 1970.  High society women had been wearing gloves since before Marie Antoinette.  Perhaps, when it got down to Aunt Bea showing up at the Mayberry jail wearing a hat and gloves, the fad was really over. The masses were just less germy if you know what I mean. Who needed gloves when we had antibiotics and vaccines?  Who needs gloves today, when we have hand sanitizer pumps right next to the grocery carts?  I miss gloves.  But, if they come back into fashion in another form like this...

I probably won't start wearing them to the grocery store anytime real soon. Fashionistas are predicting a return of the glove, so... if you want to get a jump on the trend, I've got some good ones here .

I'm also happy to report I'm now a sponsor at Sweet November and was featured there today.