PARIS, Feb 22 — What is going on in the fashion world? Not content with reviving corsets, fashion is now busy dusting off an accessory that we probably haven’t seen since the 1960s.

Long gloves — seen all over catwalks and red carpets — are even proving popular among the younger generations, who are showing them off on social networks, especially TikTok.

Evening gloves, opera gloves — call them what you will — this iconic fashion accessory popular from the 1940s to the 1960s brought an ultras-ophisticated touch to evening gowns.

Worn by Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe and Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis, they symbolise Hollywood glamour in all its glory.

After falling into obscurity several decades ago, long gloves — which come up to the elbow, or sometimes up to the shoulder — have made an unexpected comeback in recent weeks.

From the red carpet...

Adele is one of the fashion icons who has helped put long gloves back in the spotlight, showing them off in style in the video for her song Oh My God, released earlier this year. But she is far from alone.

On the cover of Elle Mexico magazine, in early February, it was Christina Aguilera who caused a sensation sporting black opera gloves in a highly glamorous look.

Meanwhile, Dua Lipa seems to have made them her go-to accessory, matching them with her stage outfits and her red-carpet looks.

Because, contrary to popular belief, long gloves are also appealing to younger generations, who are bringing them back into fashion.

This is due — once again — to the success of certain television series, such as Bridgerton or Inventing Anna, in which opera gloves have not gone unnoticed.

This has sent them flooding onto the red carpet, with celebrities from Sydney Sweeney to Beyoncé stepping out in this latest fashion must-have.

And it’s the same story on the catwalk, from Elie Saab to Valentino, as well as on fashion show front rows, as recently demonstrated by the influencer Caroline Daur.

...to TikTok

While it’s unlikely that you’ll spot opera gloves on the subway or in the office, the reopening of nightclubs and the easing of Covid restrictions could allow younger generations to experiment with this new trend.

The global fashion search engine Stylight* has seen a 153 per cent increase in clicks for opera gloves in the last two months, indicating a growing craze for this retro accessory.

And leather seems to stand out as a particular trend, with a 90 per cent increase in search interest for long leather gloves on Google.

The craze is even more pronounced on social networks, and in particular on TikTok, where the #operagloves hashtag already counts more than 400,000 views — almost as many as the #longgloves hashtag.

There are lots of videos proposing day or evening outfits with long gloves for an ultra-chic touch. You may have thought that Gen Zers were mad about the ‘90s and 2000s, but it seems that they also have a certain nostalgia for the ‘50s and ‘60s — two of the most defining decades in the history of fashion. — ETX-Studio

* Figures for evening gloves are based on Stylight data analysis for December 2021-January 2022 versus October 2021-November 2021. Figures for long leather gloves are based on Google Trends data for January 31, 2022-February 7, 2022.