The Seville is distinguished by its crochet-embroidered backs, affording a much heavier finish than the stitching which decorates the Florine and the Isère. A deeply fringed cuff of kid is added—and lo, the Spanish cavalier becomes a knight of quite another cycle! Hiawatha, this picturesquely slashed glove of purely American inspiration is called—most reminiscent of the fringed decorations of aboriginal chieftains is the odd device which gives it its new-world bizarrerie and flavor. It is especially striking in pure white and black.
On the other hand, a two-inch cuff sporting large diamonds of white kid set in a black border—or the colors may be reversed—is known as the Van Dyck, and doubtless has caught something of the character of early Flemish design. The Van Metor may be mentioned as similar. This is a particularly beautiful glove when made in white kid, stitched with black, and adorned with white cuffs, scalloped or pinked, and appliquéd with black kid cut in deep, sharp points which taper upward.
The Isère is especially adapted for variations of a dainty, delicate character. While the Seville lends itself best to two-toned embroidery in handsome, heavy effects, on the backs, the Isère is displaying just now on a white kid model rows of fine, black feather stitching between slender lines of plain stitching.
Another distinguished glove, the work of the same expert designer, is the Fielder, vaguely reminiscent of an old English hunting glove. In black, with a very long wrist, the striking feature of the Fielder is the deep, fan-shaped piece of white set into the wrist on the under side; it also fastens with a cleverly adjusted strap, clasped with a white pearl fastener. This is a very dashing glove.
A black glacé with white stitching has a fancy embroidered design on the back which gives to it its title of Dagger. The dagger is delightfully managed in conventionalized form, and reminds one of the adornments on crested gloves of ancient days.
Nothing could be more exquisite than the new gloves embroidered with bow-knots. If they are black, the bow-knots are in white; if white, the graceful design is embroidered in black. Either effect is charming; but the white gloves seem redolent of old valentine customs, when the true lovers’ knot might well have appeared upon a perfumed pair of dainty gift gloves such as these. The wrists also are parti-colored, gaily striped in white and black, like Pierrette.
A very long-wristed, modish glove is the Garnett, in white kid, with four black straps confining the fulness of the flaring cuff which is lined with black, and all the stitching black. Indeed, while delicate tints are seen in many of the novelties, the effectiveness of the new designs is best grasped in the black and white combinations. In any case, mere description gives little or no notion of the many interesting, beautiful styles which are appearing—nor of how much imagination and invention goes into the devising of these styles from season to season.
There is a world of comfort, too, in the thought that while such artists as these continue to concern themselves with gloves as a thing of beauty—gloves for gloves’ sake—we may rest assured that commercialism will not devour the more subtle distinctions of life. If such a trifle, let us say, as our gloves is being zealously guarded and saved to the canons of good taste, certainly we may hope to retain a true sense of elegance, and our requirements in respect to the little niceties which make up the general deportment of a people shall be continually elevated.
If the foregoing description of the gloves of the hour may have seemed redundant, or of too ephemeral interest, to the reader, let him pause and reflect that, after all, we are ourselves makers of glove history; and it may be that glove lovers of the future will be as grateful to find on record the gloves of our times, as we have been gratified to rediscover the glove annals of remote periods of human history.
FINIS