Accessories, Part 4: More Gloves

We’re back for another installment in our fashion series on NineteenTeen focusing not on dresses and gowns (gorgeous as they are) but on the little things that complete a fashionable ensemble—hats, shoes, gloves, purses, and other accessories. 

Today we’ll have a look at images of gloves from Ackermann's Repository from 1822-1829 (images from 1809-1821 were examined back in March.) For background on the role gloves played in early 19th century fashion, that post is a good place to start...as is a recently published short book from Shire Publications (love their books!), Gloves and Glove-making, which is an admirably complete (if concise) history of gloves and how they were made in Great Britain. And I have to say that the book was worth it alone for the image of a child's knitted mitten from the 16th century--wow!

So let's look at some pretty pictures. 

Walking Dress, April 1822. The workhorse of daytime gloves, York Tan:

Full Dress, May 1822. I imagine it was almost impossible to keep full-length kid gloves from not tumbling down one's arms once they'd warmed and stretched after a few hours' wear:

Ball Dress, September 1822. It's hard to judge whether the bow visible on her left arm is merely decorative, or is part of a fastening in attempt to keep one's gloves from falling:

Ball Dress, June 1823. Notice the notch in the hem--perhaps homemade to allow for somewhat plumper arms?
 

Ball Dress, July 1823. Ooh, more ruffle-edged gloves! These will more or less remain in fashion for the rest of the decade, until longer-sleeved dresses came more into fashion for evening wear:
 

Ball Dress, August 1823 and Full Dress, December 1823: Ruffles AND a bow!

Evening Dress, November 1825 and Dinner Dress, March 1826. After a few years of more of the same, a new fashion emerges: the wearing of large bracelets on top of one's gloves. How else could you have shown off your arm bling? And they might have helped a little in the sagging glove department...

Evening Dress, March 1827. Mourning gloves--or are they gauntlets? It's a little hard to tell whether the pointy bits are part of the dress or part of the gloves, though I'm leaning toward their being part of the gloves:

Morning Dress, March 1827 and Carriage Dress, April 1827.  About now, colored gloves--especially blue and light gray--seem to be fashionable for day wear. They occasionally match the dress, but more often seem to match contrasting colors in accessories like hats:

Ball Dress, July 1827. Here's a first--a pair of gloves accented with ribbon to match the dress. The zig-zag hem is also pretty cute:

Ball Dress, December 1827. What looks like eyelet embroidery around the hem--as well as seams on the back of the hands, a feature usually seen in daytime wear:

Evening Dress, February 1828. Note the embroidered floral pattern on the backs of the hands:

Dinner Dress, March 1828. And more embroidery, this time in gold:

Carriage Costume, August 1828. The old stand-by for daytime use, York Tan gloves, are still standing by:

Evening Dress, December 1828. These bracelets definitely appear to be stemming the tide:

Parisian Carriage Dress, March 1829. And gloves in contrasting colors remain fashionable for daytime wear:

I hope you've enjoyed our up-close-and-personal look at gloves!