The glove quandary. What is it? And why does it matter?
Well it doesn’t matter, but I’m going to explain it nonetheless. Here in the northern hemisphere we’re currently experiencing autumnal weather covering large swaths of the countryside in fallen leaves. With these picturesque scenes comes the need rug up. As we all know, the long nights are drawing in and the arrival of the cold is imminent. This affects everyone, but most importantly it affects the way we dress.
For many, including myself, the colder weather is a favourite for fashion. I’m talking plush scarves, pleated trousers, knitted jumpers, woollen beanies and heavy overcoats. What I’ve deliberately omitted from that collection of thoughtful threads, is a pair of gloves. Why? Because I don’t own a pair.
It is the reason I don’t own a pair of gloves, that is the very point of this article. I don’t own a pair of gloves, because I am yet to find a truly versatile pair that go with the majority of my winter wardrobe.
Look, I could take some of the blame for this myself. I own a diverse selection of winter clothing. In turn, I am less likely to find any item of clothing that will seamlessly transition from one outfit to another, let alone a pair of gloves. In all honesty though, I refuse to take the blame on this one. This quandary lies solely in the laps of the glove manufacturers and their lack of recent innovation in this realm.
Before I go any further, I must state that this is a purely style-based quandary. This is in no way a sleight on any glove’s ability to keep one’s hands warm. I live in the Uk and gloves are rarely a necessity and when they are needed, any old glove would do the job. However, I don’t care about their practical functions. I care about the way they look and the way they work with the rest of your outfit.
On paper, I love a classic leather glove. Brands such as Hestra, make gorgeous elk skin gloves in wonderful shades of brown and muted yellows. Leather gloves are perfect for formal and smart casual outfits. Paired with leather shoes or boots, trousers and a long car coat, the leather glove works perfectly. Even an unlined leather glove will suit a less bulky blazer or chore coat. The exception to this is a black leather glove. A black leather glove is always a risk and is very hard to make work. At best a black leather glove will make you look like a villainous character from a 1960’s espionage thriller. At worst, you’re giving off serial strangler vibes.
Where the leather glove falls down, is it’s inability to match with many modern materials. With a coat made of Gore-Tex, Pertex, or any other “tex” for that matter, a leather glove sticks out like a sore thumb. It gives off the impression that you’ve lost your gloves and you’re wearing a pair of your Grandad’s instead.
Then the inverse is true for gloves made of these hyper-modern materials and outfits with classic tailoring. Cutting edge, modern hand-wear, simply does not work with more traditional materials, such as wool or tweed. In particular if the modern glove you’re wearing is padded, you can start to look a lot like the incredible hulk.
The biggest problem with this lack of compatibility. Is that unfortunately neither of these types of gloves are particularly cheap. The Hestra Utsjo gloves and the Arc’Teryx Venta gloves, are 86 and 65 British pounds respectively. It is very hard to justify the purchase of two different gloves at these price points. Especially when you know full well, that very seldom will they be used annually.
So what does that leave us with? Basically you’ve got mittens, woollen gloves, and don’t even get me started on the fingerless varieties of hand-wear. Fingerless gloves are just gloves with commitment issues. The crux of it is, mittens are for extreme sports yahoos and children. Whereas woollen gloves are just a bit boring. Plus woollen gloves are useless in the wet and get too grotty, too quickly.
Before you ask. No, this isn’t all just a thinly veiled excuse to spruik some wonder glove that is coincidentally the sponsor for this article. I just genuinely have a glove gripe. I really do want to love the glove, but I’m yet to find the pair that fit me like a *insert pun here*.
Finally, having said all of that. If any glove manufacturers are reading this and reckon they’re sitting on the perfect all round winter glove. Shoot a pair your boy’s way.
