GLOVE
LORE

THE PARIS GLOVE STORE

S. W. LAIRD & CO.

390 MAIN STREET

BUFFALO

Copyrighted 1897.

Otis H. Kean & Co.,

Compilers and Publishers

Advertising Literature,

Buffalo, N. Y.

Introductory.

In presenting our Brochure on fall and winter gloves, it occurred to us that a few facts bearing upon the historical phase of the subject would not be amiss, and, though necessarily brief, we trust may prove interesting to our readers.

Our display of gloves for the present season shows the same characteristic excellence which has always been our aim, and a range of style and variety calculated to meet the requirements of the most exacting buyer.

We feel that in point of prices there is no need to make mention, since a liberal patronage is the truest indication of our policy in this regard, and we can promise in the future the same “sterling worth” we have given in the past.

Attention is also called to our corset department, in the belief, that for the lady who has not yet worn the Fascia Corset there awaits a real revelation, the extent of which she can appreciate, only when once encircled by the graceful curves of this, The Queen of all corsets.

The Birth of the Glove.

“’Tis as I should entreat you, wear your glove.”

—Othello.

The first pair of gloves of which we have any record was the covering of skins which Jacob wore upon his hands to deceive his blind father, and it is a singular fact, that these hand-coverings, then used for deception and treachery, came in time to be a pledge of faith, a token of fidelity all over the world. The glove is unique in its universal use to symbolize good faith, from the Oriental custom of giving the purchaser a glove at the transfer of property, to its use as a love favor and a challenge.

Some authorities say that the use of gloves as a protection to the hands was known to the cave-dwellers. However this may be, it certainly was to the Romans and Greeks.

In the Norman period we find gloves worn only by men, and even then they were considered the appendages of the rich and great. They were an important factor on all ceremonial occasions, and were consequently very ornate and of rare material and workmanship, and many of them decorated with precious stones. The gloves of bishops were of silk and linen, richly embroidered, and those of monarchs were white with broad, pointed cuff. The presentation of the royal gloves at the coronation ceremony is a custom which still prevails, for in the records of Victoria’s coronation is the Duke of Norfolk’s petition to present the Queen’s coronation gloves.

While we of to-day use gloves only as a protection and an ornament, in the intervening centuries they had a significance aside from this. Churchmen wore gloves as a sign of purity; judges, as a token of the integrity of their office; men pledged their honor by their gloves; and perhaps we may be pardoned for saying that this custom still survives with us, since our gloves are sold “on honor.”

A Walking Glove.
  Two-Clasp Piqué Glacé.
  Two-Toned Stitching.
  $1.00 to $2.00.

Gentleman’s Walking Glove.
  English Cape Leather,
  One Clasp at the Wrist,
  Oak Tan and Red Shades are correct.
  $1.00 to $2.25.

English Cape Leather Riding and Coaching Glove.
  In Havana-Browns and Red Shades.
  $1.00 to $2.00.

Old Royal Gloves.

Some of the gloves worn by royal personages still exist. We illustrate a glove worn by England’s maiden queen, Elizabeth, and a very ornate affair it is—of fine white leather, profusely embroidered in gold thread, and having a yellow fringe and lined with drab silk. Elizabeth’s hands were very beautiful, we are told, the charm of which she was wont to display by the repeated removal of her gloves. DuMaurier writes how he had heard from his father “that, having been sent to her, at every audience he had with her majesty, she pulled off her gloves more than a hundred times to display her hands, which, indeed, were very beautiful and very white.” Either the royal hands were a deal larger than a lady of our time would care to possess, or they knew not in those days the grace of our perfect-fitting gloves, for those of Elizabeth’s are as much as three and one-half inches across the palm, and have a thumb five inches in length, the entire glove being about a half-yard.

We are told that gloves were not adopted by the gentler sex as a class until after the Reformation. But when once the fashion had taken hold of the feminine mind, they made up by lavish ornamentation what they had lost in time. Gloves of fine leather, with great cuffs elaborately ornamented with exquisite embroidery in rich and delicate silks, wrought with marvelous ingenuity and skill, now became a veritable mania. Lace-trimmed gloves were also worn; and a language of the glove arose, so that a secret correspondence could be carried on by certain knottings of the fringe.

Whatever may be said of the gloves of the past, they are at least picturesque and interesting, as well as varied in style.

A Theatre and Reception Glove.
  Four-Button, White or Cream Glacé.
  Broad Stitching of Black or Self-Color.
  $1.00, $1.25, $1.50, $1.75, $2.00.

Perfumed Gloves.

“Gloves as sweet as

damask roses.”

Shakespeare.

Thus did the peddler advertise his wares in the days of good Queen Bess. While perfumed gloves were used in both France and Spain prior to this time, it was the evident partiality of her dress-loving majesty that brought about a veritable perfume craze. Housewives became learned in the distillation of sweet waters, and the preparation of all manner of sweet-smelling essences. Ladies vied with each other in a lavish employment of scent. “All apparel was perfumed; hair and shoes and fans gave out sweet-smelling savor, and all kinds of jewelry contained cavities filled with strong essences. Perfumed gloves were not the least conspicuous of these toilet accessories.”

The ordinary method of perfuming the glove was to mix the substance or odor with oil, and rub it into the glove, or else to prepare a pomatum and smear it over the inner surface of the glove. Spain had now become famous for her embroidered and perfumed gloves, and thus the preference was shown for those of Spanish make, the fragrance of which was of a very enduring character.

This love of luxury and ultra-refinement now reached an extreme pitch. As Shakespeare says: “The very winds were love-sick with perfume.” Into their bath the fair ladies threw musk, amber, aloes, myrrh, cedar leaves, lavender, mint, and other fragrant herbs and spices—everything was made to give forth an aromatic fragrance—an unbridled luxury that bid fair to outdo the fair dames of Rome.

The use of perfumed gloves has never wholly died out. In France, and even in America, Russia leather gloves are worn to this day, for the sake of their aromatic quality.

A Semi-Dress Glove.
  Two-Clasp or Four-Button.
  Suéde or Glacé Kid.
  $1.00 to $2.00.

Something About Gauntlets.

The use of the glove as a challenge, carries us back to the chivalrous days of the armoured knights and ladies fair: the blare of trumpets, the neighing of steeds, the ring of steel as the gauntlet is flung into the lists, and the hush as it is taken up; the lance in rest, the clash of conflict—all, happily, but the romantic picture of the past.

The use of the glove as a gage is very ancient, and it involved the very highest point of honor.

Besides its use in the courts of chivalry, the glove was used in appeals of felony, and in civil disputes as to property. If a man accused of crime took his accuser’s glove on the point of his sword, and in the ensuing combat came out victorious, it was considered sufficient proof of his innocence. The same was true as to disputed ownership of land.

When the sovereign of England was crowned, it was customary for a knight to appear as champion, casting down the gauntlet, and challenging to mortal combat any who dared gainsay the monarch’s right. This ceremony was in use for the last time at the coronation of George IV.

When two knights rode together in combat, it would often happen that one wore in his helmet a dainty glove, a glove far different indeed from the steel one he had so recently taken up, the favor of some fair lady of his love, who was perhaps looking down upon him then. Thus he was for a second time bound to quit himself valiantly by the same token of a glove; a slight thing enough, but one which has ever been bound up with ideas of honor and deeds of knightly valor.

A Full-Dress Glove.
  $1.50 to $4.00.

Some Historical Gloves.

Among others of the gloves that remain from those old days, is a well-worn pair made of substantial leather, stitched with red and gold, and with a border pinked in the wrist. Very unpretentious, indeed, beside the hand-coverings of kings and queens and gilded nobles; yet their very wrinkles mean more to the world than the whole of that gaudy lot; for if tradition does not misinform us, these gloves were worn by England’s greatest son, Shakespeare. What a world of meaning that phrase attaches to these bits of leather, still bearing the imprint of the hand that penned the masterpieces of our literature.

We are reminded that the bard’s father was a glover by trade, and we of to-day certainly have cause to rejoice that the son was not enamored of his father’s following, for who knows but that the hand that startled the world by its touch might only have plied a modest craft.

Whatever may have been the shortcomings of the gloves of those days, certain it is there could be no complaint as to variety. Old records speak of “single gloves and gloves lin’d, top’d, lac’d, fringed with gold, silver, silk, and fur, and gloves of velvet, satin, and taffety.”

The practice of wearing gloves at night to impart delicacy to the skin was common, in the seventeenth century, to gentlemen as well as ladies. To even greater lengths did the fairer sex go towards beautifying their complexion. It was not uncommon to wear gloves lined with unguents, or to cover the face with a mask plastered inside with a perfumed pomade. Some steeped slices of raw veal in milk and laid them on the face. “Young and tender beauties bathed in milk; beauties who were no longer young, and far from tender, bathed in wine or the like.” Gloves of chicken skin were thought to have peculiar virtue, and were worn at night to make the hands soft and white. They were so fine in texture that they could be packed in a nut-shell, and were prized by cavaliers as dainty gifts for their lady-loves.

Fascia.

When we introduced the Fascia Corset to the ladies of Buffalo, some three years since, it was in direct competition with all the most widely known makes. We were confident that the Fascia was superior to any of these, and that an article of such unqualified merit must eventually win the place it so markedly deserved.

The constant increase in the demand for Fascia Corsets shows conclusively in what regard they are now held by the ladies of Buffalo.

The Fascia is a Parisian-made corset, molded upon the forms of living models; thus, in the graceful flow of its lines, it reflects nature’s own handiwork. It is made up in French Coutille, French Zanilla, and Figured Italian Cloth, making a durable as well as a beautiful corset. The whole corset is carefully and thoroughly made, and only the very finest quality of Greenland Whalebone is used in its manufacture.

In short, it is the crowning masterpiece of the corset-maker’s art. Attention is called to the accompanying illustrations, which suggest some of our latest models.

Black $3.00 Fascia.

White $10.00 Fascia.

White Fascia, $7.50.
        Black Fascia, $8.00.

Transcriber’s Notes:

Illustrations were moved slightly to better match the printed page.

Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only when a predominant form was found in this book.