Trophy Wife Gloves

Deadstock black lamb leather gloves, remade with gemstone studs, gold-tone hardware, pearls, and branded letter beads.

Category: Remade

File Under: #Marriage, #GenderedLabor

Description

Pair of black full-grain lamb leather gloves, found unworn and preserved in deadstock condition. The gloves follow a classic women’s dress-glove silhouette, sized for a close fit and intended for formal or decorative wear.

Interventions have been applied directly to the surface of the gloves, transforming the hand into a fixed site of adornment.

Interventions include:

• Gemstone studs affixed at each fingertip, hand-set using an auger and secured with pliers.

• Gold-tone floral hardware sewn to the ring finger, repurposed from a dismantled strand of costume pearls originally used in Earls Pearls.

• A permanently affixed “bracelet” at the right wrist composed of a single strand of surplus pearls and letter beads spelling “chains.”

The additions draw attention to the hands as a locus of display, ornament, and signification.