Gloves: A Lady's Accessory

There used to be a time when a proper lady would never go out without her gloves, but, for better or for worse, that time is no more. Even so, a pair of gloves are a perfect finishing accessory to a Lolita coordinate, especially now that the weather is taking a nose dive into winter.


Nearly every mainstream store at the moment, from Walmart to Nordstrom, is going to be selling nice ladies gloves for the winter. Places like Marshalls or T.J.Maxx usually have a really nice selection for around 10 dollars that include lots of real leather or lush velvet gloves. These are an elegant choice for chilly weather as they are typically very warm and much daintier looking than a pair of stretchy knit gloves. Look for a pair to match your Lolita winter coat or jacket! Black and brown pairs are the most easily found but with a little luck you can find whites, creams, and even bold blues or reds.


While unsuited for keeping your hands warm while throwing snowballs, vintage ladies gloves are still a nice choice when you want to wear something dainty on your hands. The best part about vintage gloves is you can usually pick them up for really cheap at flea markets and yard sales, typically a dollar or two a pair, and they come in tons of different styles. The downsides though are that vintage gloves are often itty bitty and you're probably going to be out of luck if you have large hands or very long fingers, they are also mainly found in white or ivory colors, although, with some hunting, I have found various pastel colors as well as black gloves.


Lace or crochet gloves are also fairly easily found in trendy, costume or specialty shops. These can be found in a range of colors. Because of the wide range of styles and colors in lace and crochet gloves they are suited for any kind of Lolita but black lace gloves tend to work best with Gothic Lolita while ivory crochet gloves tend to work best with Classic or Country Lolita.

Not all gloves are created equal
Especially since gloves are seen as an alternative or costume fashion nowadays many gloves being sold in stores are often of a poor quality. They tend to be one-size-fits all too large, which often leads to baggy gloves, so keep in mind that, just like everything, gloves should not be ill fitting. You don't want it to look like you're wearing a cheap lace sack on your hands! If you can, you should really only buy gloves that you can try on first to see how they look on your hands. And with everything in Lolita, making sure they are made of a nice lace is going to make or break a pair of gloves.

Glove Etiquette
Like many things that were popularly worn in the past, gloves have a long list of nit picky etiquette to go with them. Since gloves have fallen out of popular wear in the past 50 years, and we're just going to be wearing them with Lolita, you can pretty much throw all of these out the window, much to the dismay of ladies who are old enough to have worn gloves in their youth! The one thing that you should keep in mind though is that you should really take your gloves off before you eat, if for the fact alone that you're probably going to end up staining your gloves if you try to eat while wearing them.

Vintage glove ad found here.

Sometimes though, a little frivolous etiquette is a fun thing, so if you're interested in wearing your gloves the proper way check out this post about glove etiquette and which gloves to wear on which occasion.

How to wear gloves with Lolita
There's no real right or wrong way to wear gloves with Lolita, so long as the gloves are of nice quality and match the rest of your coordinate, but there are a few things to keep in mind when trying out gloves with your Lolita!
  • Try wearing short light colored gloves with a short sleeved Sweet Lolita outfit.
  • Opera length gloves look best with short or no sleeves.
  • Black fingerless gloves look great peeking out from under long Gothic Lolita sleeves
  • Wear a colorful pair of wrist cuffs with plain black or white gloves to make them look more colorful than they really are.
  • While it's against proper glove etiquette, wear your rings over your gloves! It looks so decadent.
  • Try fancying up a plain pair of gloves with a pretty brooch.
  • If you're crafty, you can always add some pretty lace or beading to gloves to make them match your wardrobe perfectly.
There are tons of coordinates with gloves in the Gothic & Lolita Bibles! They make a perfect finishing touch to so many different kinds of Lolita outfits.

While I have a pretty large vintage glove collection sitting around in one of my dresser drawers, I rarely ever get the chance to wear them. Although, with the addition of more Classic Lolita pieces to my wardrobe, and the oncoming Winter I think I'm going to try to work them into my daily wardrobe a little more. Or at the very least, try to remember to pack a pair of pretty leather gloves into my purse to keep my hands warm when I go out and find it a little colder than I thought it was!

20 comments:

  1. I think gloves are ladylike & should be worn more with Lolita.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love gloves ;o; if your hands are small enough, you can pick up a cute pair for only a few bucks at most thrift stores, thought I'm usually not that lucky. I do have a beautiful vintage pair of opera-length gloves with three little buttons at the wrist - very understated and lovely with classic or shiro!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh I love the look of gloves with Lolita!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Gloves and lolita look great, it just adds to the decadent look off it all. I've been looking for a pair and definitely getting a leather pair for winter.
    Also thanks for the etiquette link.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm so happy it's Glove Season again :) Gloves are just so wonderfully elegant!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Erm, just to say, it's spelt " Lady's ", and if you want it in plural, it's " ladies' ". But I love this post, thank you very much for sharing it!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Haha oops! I didn't even notice that XD Fixed now, thanks for pointing that out!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Great post :D I finally got myself some gloves not too long ago and have been waiting to put them to use. I'm hoping it doesn't get too hot too quickly here to be wearing them! Lace/crochet gloves are so elegant.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks for posting about crochet gloves, I hadn't even thought of them! Too bad Summer has gone :(

    ReplyDelete
  10. oh, great post as usual. I love gloves, they always add that elegant feel. very suitable for lolitas since it´s a frequent victorian accessory.
    and of course, victorian maiden does a great job with them, the models always wear some.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thank you for linking back to my post on gloves!. Love your blog , well written, lovely images and great layout

    XX Rosina Lee

    ReplyDelete
  12. d(^^) gloves are fab things XD and not just for autumn/winter, they're fun for all year round depending on the coordinate. Theres a few vintage shops(one a charity shop, other a sort of stage costume~y place) in Edinburgh that I've found gloves in. One pair is brown crocheted, lovely but annoyingly the fingers keep needing repaired(not good gloves for wearing with rings, unfortunately). Then the other pair is a sort of pastel/soft green, almost mint. Also found a matching green pearl necklace in the same shop, and a pale straw bag with a kind of deep green ribbon accent(which I added cluny/torsion lace to). I made a dress/jumperskirt from an AP pattern last year(the overlocker ate it a wee bit at one point, almost destroying it), in green gingham that has little pinky orange flowers dotted on it. So, the lucky finds go just right with the dress as a spring/summer coordinate, with brown shoes, brown pattern overknees, and either a Claire's mini comb tiara or the matching ribbon hairband I made(also an AP pattern). Kind of gives it that 1950's look that reminds me of movie actresses (^_^) gloves can add such a wonderfully elegant feel to the right outfit(gave me the courage to bear my spotty & scabby arms during the summer this year a few times). I like this blog entry, since it some lovely suggestions(particulary the lace wristcuffs + gloves combo). The gothic idea is quite good, I got a few pairs of black crochet fingerless gloves from Claire's either this year or last(I forget), went well with a few punkish lolita coordinates too. Also, kind of worked with that brown floral dress from Meta(the one sold around winter, round collar, long sleeves, front shirring, a bit highwaisted, came with an apron). Theres gloves for almost every style, if you hunt around enough shops \(^__^)/

    ReplyDelete
  13. I love gloves! Especially opera length ones! Opera gloves would look so elegant with Classic and Gothic outfits, but perhaps not as well with Sweet ones. :/

    ReplyDelete
  14. I have very small hands and long fingers. What do I do?

    ReplyDelete
  15. Fingerless gloves are worn by motorcyclists to better grip the handlebars.
    fingerless mittens

    ReplyDelete
  16. There are a wide range of Safety Gloves which are suitable for all kinds of work places from the construction industry to home use and for general work safety. Safety Gloves are needed for most work environments due a number of reason's depending on the line of work you are doing.touch screen gloves manufacturer

    ReplyDelete
  17. There's no real right or wrong way to wear gloves with Lolita, so long as the gloves are of nice quality and match the rest of your coordinate, but there are a few things to keep in mind when trying out gloves with your Lolita! swarovski necklace wholesale france , swarovski necklace wholesale uk

    ReplyDelete
  18. You’re doing a remarkable process. Hold it up

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...