((Short description|Formal glove reaching above the elbow))
((pp-semi|small=yes))
((Refimprove|date=December 2009))
[[File:Queen Mary and Queen Elisabeth.jpg|thumb|[[Queen Mary of the United Kingdom]] and [[Queen Elisabeth of Belgium]] wearing evening gloves at Belgian court.]]

'''Evening gloves''' or '''opera gloves''' are a type of [[formal wear|formal]] [[glove]] that reaches beyond the [[Elbow-joint|elbow]] worn by women.

Women's gloves for formal and semi-formal wear come in three lengths for women: [[wrist]], [[elbow]], and [[opera]] or full-length (over the elbow, usually reaching to the [[biceps]] but sometimes to the full length of the arm).

The most expensive full-length gloves are custom-made of [[kidskin]]. Many other types of [[leather]], most usually soft varieties of [[cowhide]], are used in making full-length gloves; [[patent leather]] and [[suede]] are especially popular as alternatives to kidskin, and are often more affordable than kidskin. [[Satin]] and stretch satin materials are extremely popular, and there are mass-produced varieties as well. More unusual glove materials include leathers made from salmon, python, and stingray.<ref>((cite news |last1=Snaije |first1=Olivia |title=Blood, sweat and silk on the long road to Paris Fashion Week |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/04/world/europe/blood-sweat-and-silk-on-the-long-road-to-paris-fashion-week/index.html |accessdate=9 August 2019 |agency=CNN |date=March 4, 2014))</ref>

==History==
[[Image:Fontange Kneller.jpg|thumb|left|Mary II wearing elbow length gloves c. 1690]]
===Western world===
While the etymology of the term ''opera glove'' is unknown, gloves of above-the-elbow length have been worn since at least the late 18th century, and gloves reaching to or just below the elbow have been worn by women in Western countries since the 17th century; in an extant engraving of England's [[Mary II of England|Queen Mary]] dating from the 1690s she is shown wearing elbow-length gloves. Over-the-elbow gloves were first widely popular during the [[English Regency|Regency]]/[[Napoleonic]] period (circa 1800&ndash;1825), and waned in popularity during the early and mid-Victorian periods (circa 1830&ndash;1870), but enjoyed their greatest vogue in the last two decades of the 19th century and the years of the 20th century prior to the start of [[World War I]]. During that period, they were standard for both daytime and evening wear; even some swimming costumes were accessorized with opera gloves. [[Etiquette]] considered gloves to be mandatory accessories for both men and women of the upper classes, so it was uncommon to see a well-dressed woman at a public occasion who was not wearing gloves of some sort. According to several fashion historians, over-the-elbow gloves were re-popularized during the late 19th century by actresses [[Sarah Bernhardt]] in France (to disguise what she considered her overly thin arms) and [[Lillian Russell]] in the United States.<ref name=":0">((Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tiEvBQAAQBAJ&dq=Mousquetaire+gloves&pg=PA206|title=Ethnic Dress in the United States: A Cultural Encyclopedia|last1=Lynch|first1=Annette|last2=Strauss|first2=Mitchell D.|publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]]|year=2014|isbn=9780759121508|location=|pages=206|language=en))</ref>
[[Image:Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes trailer.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Marilyn Monroe wearing evening gloves in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes"]]
The opera glove has enjoyed varying popularity in the decades since [[World War I]], being most prevalent as a fashion accessory in the 1940s through the early 1960s, but continues to this day to be popular with women who want to add a particularly elegant touch to their formal attire. They have enjoyed minor revivals in fashion design on several occasions, being popular in ''haute couture'' collections in the late 2000s.<ref name=":0" /> Opera gloves continue to be highly popular accessories for [[bridal]], [[prom]], [[debutante]], and [[quinceañera]] gowns and at very formal [[ballroom dance]]s (white opera gloves are still mandatory for female debutantes at the [[Vienna Opera Ball]]<ref>((Cite web|url=https://www.wiener-staatsoper.at/en/staatsoper/vienna-opera-ball/make-your-debut/|title=Make Your Debut At The Vienna Opera Ball-Dresscode|last=|first=|date=|website=upstream.wiener-staatsoper.at|language=en|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=9 November 2019))</ref>).

They are sometimes worn by entertainers such as [[can-can]] dancers and [[burlesque]] performers in particular during the performance of a [[Gown-and-glove striptease]]. In popular culture, probably the best-known images incorporating opera gloves are those of [[Rita Hayworth]] in ''[[Gilda]]'' (1946) [[Marilyn Monroe]] in ''[[Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953 film)|Gentlemen Prefer Blondes]]'' (1953), [[Cinderella (Disney character)|Cinderella]] from Disney's 1950 film ''[[Cinderella (1950 film)|Cinderella]]'' and [[Audrey Hepburn]] in [[Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)|''Breakfast at Tiffany's'']].

===Japan===
In [[Japan]], some ladies wear long gloves all day in summer, to protect the ideal ((nihongo|'''''irojiro'''''|色白)), or fair skin, which represents beauty, grace, and high social status (as well as purity and divinity in local religions), and avoid any form of tanning.<ref>((cite news | title=Japanese girls choose whiter shade of pale | url=https://www.theguardian.com/japan/story/0,7369,1185335,00.html | publisher=Guardian Unlimited | location=London | first=Nicole | last=Mowbray | date=2004-04-04 | accessdate=2010-05-02))</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery>

File:Cocacola-5cents-1900.jpg|Coca cola advertisement from c. 1900
File:Gilda trailer rita hayworth3 crop.JPG|Rita Hayworth from the ''Gilda'' trailer in 1946
File:The Ladies' home journal (1948) (14580249577).jpg|The Ladies home journal, advertisement from 1948
File:Jacqueline Kennedy after State Dinner, 22 May 1962.jpg|[[Jacqueline Kennedy]] wearing evening gloves at a state dinner in 1962.
File:Natalie Wood Gypsy 1962.jpg|[[Natalie Wood]] portraying stripper [[Gypsy Rose Lee]] in 1962.
File:Sophie Marceau Césars 1996.jpg|Actress [[Sophie Marceau]] wearing evening gloves, 1996.
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Gown-and-glove striptease]]

==References==
((Reflist))

==External links==
((Commons Category|Evening gloves))
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060823192752/http://www.operagloves.com/history.html The History of the Opera Glove]
*[http://www.glove.org/ How to make Gloves]

((DEFAULTSORT:Evening Glove))
[[Category:Gloves]]
[[Category:Fashion accessories]]