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Tuesday, February 28, 2012

FASHION STORIES - THE STORY OF GLOVES


Everybody knows what gloves are - they are garments covering hands. They have separate openings for each finger and the thumb. Gloves protect hands against cold, heat or chemicals. They can also be guards for what we should not touch.

White Lace Wedding Gloves by darkponydesigns

Gloves have lots of practical purposes. They're worn daily by lots of different commercial and industrial professional as well as athletes. Latex ones are used by healthcare professionals. Criminals may wear them to avoid leaving fingerprints. But we're here all about fashion so let's not forget that they can also be worn just for vanity reasons or to make a fashion statement.

Gloves go way back. According to some translations of The Odyssey, Laertes is describes as wearing gloves while walking in his garden. There are mentions of use of gloves among the Romans.

Mouse Hand Warmers by WarmYourself


They didn't began being worn by ladies as a fashion ornament until the 13th century. They were made of linen and silk and sometimes reached all the way to the elbow. A Paris guild of glovers made them in skin and fur.

They reached their greatest elaboration in the 16th century when Queen Elizabeth I set the fashion for wearing the gloves richly embroidered and jewelled, and for putting them on and taking them off during audiences, to draw attention to her beautiful hands.




Fingerless mittens by Danfe

Have you ever wondered how many different styles of gloves there are? Here are the main ones:

1. Fingerless - they have openings for each finger and thumb but no covering.

2. Gauntlets - are fingerless gloves with one large opening rather than individual ones for each finger.
3. Mittens - are gloves that cover the entire hand or fist but do not have separate openings for each finger.

4. Hybrid gloves and mittens are the ones that are fingerless but also have a convertible compartment that can be pulled over the bare fingers to enclose them.

5. Formal wear gloves - come in 3 lengths: wrist ("matinee"), elbow and opera (full length). They can be satin or lace.


Vintage sheer gloves by VeraVague

Who would think there was so much to such a simple accessory? Remember this though next time you put your gloves on: Whether you're going biking in your fingerless gloves, putting on mittens before hitting the slopes or the pretty satin black gloves while going to the opera - back in the day they had sumptuary laws to restrain this vanity for example against perfumed gloves in Rome in 1560:)


Leather gloves by gaboo

Monday, February 27, 2012

BLOG PLANS

One might wonder: What am I going to write about over here?

So far, I've come up with 3 series of articles that will show up monthly: 

1. Around the 10th of each month, I'm going to publish an article in a series called GREEN DIVA. This series will show you how to green your life style by making simple choices in your every day life. I am not a "hippie", neither do I tie myself to trees but I'm a big believer in being eco friendly. It's good for me, animals, plants, the whole entire planet and future generations. It's even good for you.

2. Around the 20th of each month, I'm going to write about what's NEW AT GLAMBOX. About what I'm working on, have been working on or plan to work on. I'll try to have something new to show you each time.

and last but not least

3. Towards the end of each month, you'll be able to enjoy a series called FASHION STORIES. It'll be all about different fashion items from gloves thru spats and all the way to DVF wrap dresses. About their history, evolution, different styles and ways to wear. I'm going to try to illustrate this series with some gorgeous items found on Etsy.

I may also publish articles on other topics as they come up.

I hope you'll enjoy reading them all as much as I enjoy writing....

Friday, February 24, 2012

WHAT'S HAPPENED?

It's been a year and a half since the last and only post here and you may wonder: "What's happened?" The answer to that is - nothing and a lot at the same time.

The Glam Box was a venture started together by my sister and I. It started off as a handmade jewelry store and then we added some accessories to it. We had great hopes for it but the sales never really came.

My sister decided to give up on it and split off last year. I've been trying to keep it going but have been too busy with all my other ventures to really give it my full attention.

When we split up, we split up all of the merchandise we still had on hand between the two of us. Since then, I've been wearing lots of The Glam Box pieces and loving them. It made me think that I don't want to give up on it, I've never wanted to give up on it. So here I am, back on blogger saying: I'm going to make all kinds of new pieces for The Glam Box and I'm going to keep up with this blog!

A big part of my plan is to make The Glam Box an eco friendly venture. By that I mean using as many repurposed materials as possible, printing all of the labels on 100% recycled paper and using eco friendly packaging materials and so on...