Gauntlets
Bonnie Cashin created award-winning clothing known for its casual comfort. As the daughter of a dressmaker, she was exposed to textiles and fashion nearly from birth and began designing professionally in 1925, at age 17. Prior to establishing her own company in 1951, she designed for Adler & Adler and Twentieth Century-Fox. Thereafter she worked with manufacturers such as Sills and Co. and Coach to offer fashion and accessories in every price bracket. She was adept at manipulating organic components into modern basics which could easily be mixed, matched and layered for the active woman. Her brightly colored leather trim, metallic toggle hardware and shaped knits are still a recognizable trademark of her work today. In 1962 the Brooklyn Museum, with her assistance and donations, staged, "Bonnie Cashin Presents Her Living Sketch Book," which was a retrospective of her work. Cashin's forethought to preserve her past while still designing is one which makes her work still accessible today.
Bonnie Cashin's desire to design all aspects of a woman's wardrobe is evident in the accessories she produced during her long career. One such accessory is gloves, which she teamed with Crescendoe to make throughout the 1970s. She artistically combined leathers, knits, faux fur and metallic hardware to fulfill women's seasonal needs. She was often fanciful, with ideas such as hearts on the palm, and always sensible, with warm lining in the winter, while still understanding the needs of providing options in every price range to accommodate her clientele. In 1985, Cashin donated some of her samples to the Brooklyn Museum alongside their sketches. Although the gloves are not in complete sets they truly show the design process she took from the sketch inception to the complete prototype.
Cashin designed gloves, such as this one, with the shape of the armored gauntlet in mind. The cuff of the glove could be worn for protection over the wrist or reversed over the glove itself to create a muff shape and retain extra warmth over the hands.
Bonnie Cashin's desire to design all aspects of a woman's wardrobe is evident in the accessories she produced during her long career. One such accessory is gloves, which she teamed with Crescendoe to make throughout the 1970s. She artistically combined leathers, knits, faux fur and metallic hardware to fulfill women's seasonal needs. She was often fanciful, with ideas such as hearts on the palm, and always sensible, with warm lining in the winter, while still understanding the needs of providing options in every price range to accommodate her clientele. In 1985, Cashin donated some of her samples to the Brooklyn Museum alongside their sketches. Although the gloves are not in complete sets they truly show the design process she took from the sketch inception to the complete prototype.
Cashin designed gloves, such as this one, with the shape of the armored gauntlet in mind. The cuff of the glove could be worn for protection over the wrist or reversed over the glove itself to create a muff shape and retain extra warmth over the hands.
Artwork Details
- Title: Gauntlets
- Designer: Bonnie Cashin (American, Oakland, California 1908–2000 New York)
- Manufacturer: Crescendoe Gloves, Inc. (American)
- Date: 1970–74
- Culture: American
- Medium: leather, synthetic, metal
- Credit Line: Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of the artist, 1985
- Object Number: 2009.300.3377
- Curatorial Department: The Costume Institute
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Bonnie Cashin
1950
Bonnie Cashin
1955
Bonnie Cashin
1953
Bonnie Cashin
fall/winter 1971–72
Bonnie Cashin
Philip Sills & Co.
fall/winter 1961–62
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