Empire on the Seine: The Policing of North Africans in Paris, 1925–1975

Abstract

bols of status and tools of modesty. Chapter one. “Musk-scented, fragrant, invented by Venus”: Early gloves. The author introduces the earliest gloves with historical examples from ancient Rome and Egypt, and medieval times. In this chapter, the author shares a range of ways gloves accumulated meaning with literary examples supporting the historical. Gloves have been used to pledge loyalty and love, were associated with status acknowledgement and giving, but also signal defiance. Historically gloves were tied to rituals of social exchange, acknowledging thanks, and rites of passage and are linguistically linked to many facets of life. Chapter two. Tranks, Forgits and Quirks: Making Gloves. The transition of glove production from cottage industry to thirteenth century guilds and apprenticeships begins this chapter. Green explains that a glover had to be able to perfectly stitch, dye and perfume their work; the skill to accomplish this took many years of training. Advances in the manufacture of gloves related to industrialization during the nineteenth century are discussed. Rather than providing detailed information on the manufacture of gloves (both Redwood’s Gloves and Glove Making [2016] and Cummings’s Gloves [1982] provide this information), the author demonstrates by literary sources the ways the glove industry related to “ethics, politics, gender and class” of its customer (74). Chapter three: “Tear at the Thumb, Troubles to Come”: The Language of Gloves. Here Green uses both novels and etiquette books to support her thesis, “small but highly visible... gloves are ideally suited to projecting information” (85). This chapter delves into the communicative power of the gloved hand. From spiritual instruction, linguistic systems for the deaf to political messages, gloves can be used for literal messages. Usually, however, the language of gloves is more subtle. Gloves projected social differences though manners and etiquette. Choice of materials and colors, when and where wear them and remove them were intricately tied to conformity, sending the right message. Chapter four: “Fashioned by the Craft of Devils, and with Skins of the Dragon”: Magical Gloves. “Gloves are intrinsically mysterious” writes Green (141). From fairy tales to miraculous associations, often the qualities of the materials provided supernatural properties to a glove. Miraculous gloves associated with the lives of saints “mediate between good and evil” (123) or even have the power to heal. In the tales the author documents, gloves and hand often share the same attributes and powers, even to the extent of gloves acting independently from the hand. Again, intermingling historical and cultural facts with literary examples, Green weaves a tale of supernatural powers attributed to gloves. Chapter five: “Place this Glove neere thy Heart”: Gloves and Love. Poets, novelists, and artists proclaim the association between gloves and love, extending the symbolism of the magic glove to the realm of the heart. Gloves were part of the wedding celebration and contract, at times as gifts to the bride or groom, and at times gifts to the guests. Through fantasy and history, the association of paired gloves and paired lovers is explored. The courtship rituals, flirtation and seduction signals displayed through unpaired gloves shared provides equally intriguing confirmation of the symbolic connection. Chapter six: Archers, Artists and Astronauts: Functions Old and New. Here Green considers contemporary gloves and how society’s glove use has evolved. “Gloves still tell stories” (201), but by the end of the nineteenth century times were changing. Fashion in general became more democratized, so wearing gloves was no longer something that set apart the elite. Gloves began to symbolize social constraint, confinement, and by the 1960s gloves were no longer de rigueur, except in the most formal situations. With beginnings as utilitarian objects, gloves have come full circle. Artists are still fascinated by their meanings and messages. However, most contemporary gloves are specialized for different functions: medical gloves and specialized sports gloves predominate. Green has described the essentialness of a material culture artifact in a new way for this reader. Expressing the multifaceted world of gloves eloquently, Green’s style of writing felt more like reading a novel than a work of nonfiction. It kept me reading and made me interested to read the sources she quotes. This book would be of interest to fashion enthusiasts as well as fashion historians. My only criticism with the book is that image citations are in alphabetical order by the source rather than in citation page order. This makes it difficult to ascertain the source (museum collection) of a particular image without skimming through the entire list until you find the page number on which the image appeared.