I've got to hand it to you

I tend to analyze runway slideshows the way most people study for calculus midterms and the Giuliano Fujiwara Fall 2010 collection was especially fascinating. Amid the counterpoints of unassuming knits and structured outerwear — not to mention a parade of really high high-tops — fingerless gloves punctuated practically every look. That they were crafted out of shiny black leather suggested both a sinister and fetishistic vibe; designer Masataka Matsumura succeeded in modernizing the samurai and making him sexier. 

‘Where’s Waldo?’ For Accessories

You know you’re obsessed with something when your subconscious makes you see things you want to see. Like a “Where’s Waldo?” for men’s accessories, there they were again, at John Varvatos’ Fall 2010 offering. The American designer restrained his tailored dandy suits with a palette of grays and browns, perfect for guys who don’t want to stray too far from what they know sartorially. However, knit fingerless gloves made several outfits a bit more interesting. Who was I to question the accessory’s sudden relevance?

These finishing touches — whether half-gloves or fingerless ones — aren’t exactly new. About four or five years ago, Karl Lagerfeld reintroduced the world to his version of the motocross glove, which he wore with an army of silver rings by Chrome Hearts. Before that, Madonna made lace hand coverings wildly popular in the ’80s, the same time Michael Jackson started to become known as The Gloved One.   

Post-Apocalyptic Grunge

In 2008, Lil Wayne was photographed at New Orleans’ Voodoo Fest looking like a smart thug: purple plaid, khakis, Malcolm X-type eyewear, and fingerless gloves. Zipping back to the present, I’ve also spotted Lupe Fiasco in them. In his video for Solar Midnite, the purveyor of intelligent hip-hop toughened up his regulation hipster threads — buffalo plaid shirt, black skinnies — with fingerless gloves. They may be urban superstars, but I still dub their look post-apocalyptic grunge. 

Maybe it’s because they remind me of sweater sleeves dragged down to one’s knuckles (or neoprene weight training gloves), but I’m starting to believe that fingerless gloves can make a wearer look like a hustler and a hobo at the same time. That hasn’t stopped me, of course, from searching high and low for a pair to call my own. As I write this, I’ve combed the streets of Bangkok and zeroed in on a studded version and a blue one that suggests a former life as a sock puppet. I’ll keep on looking. 

Fortune Telling

It’s amazing how a subsidiary item can make played-out looks seem new and push one’s wardrobe closer to the future. As fingerless gloves have bobbed in and out of fashion, they can be considered constants, and the trends those types of things instigate are more of a revisit than a proper revolution.

Brit It icon Alexa Chung says it best in the March 2010 issue of British Vogue, “As with all trends, there are some of us who foresee it, there are others who ride the crest of the wave, and then there are those of us who are so late cottoning on that they’re actually early for its revival.” Consider this my attempt at fortune telling.

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