Le Gant

Author: Françoise de Bonneville

Publishing House: Regards

Publication Date: September 2007

The most refined of the costume, the glove follows the shape of the hand and keeps its imprint. In symbolic language, it has come to designate the entire hand. Instrument of action and execution, the hand holds within it the promise of all gestures.

Daily, professional or sporting gestures, the hand is a sign of skill and know-how, the appropriate glove offers assistance. Symbolic gestures since the codes built in the Middle Ages, the hand is a sign of power, protection and allegiance. As for the feminine glove that covers the hand up to the wrist, or ventures beyond the elbow by sublimating the gesture, it is a sign of its power of seduction.

From the gloves of the Renaissance and even older to the gloves of fashion designers through sports or protective gloves, this book offers a comprehensive overview of the art of the glove. This book presents all the uses and symbols of the glove. The first glove: the useful glove (the protective glove). The used glove : the glove-symbol (the royal and religious power). The glove ornament (nobility and aristocracy).

The bourgeois glove of the 19th century. The glove as a work of art (haute couture). The parts of the glove and its vocabulary. The skins. The techniques of the glove industry. The high places of the glove industry. A small précis of the manners and expressions of the glove (taking gloves). The gestures codified by the society. The choice of colors, their meaning, the quotations. Sports and professional gloves.