Gloves were a very important accessory in the gentleman’s wardrobe, so much so that the Comte d’Orsay, French arbiter of elegance and contemporary of Lord Brummell, recommended wearing six pairs of gloves a day: one for riding in a carriage, one for hunting , one for walking, one for dinner, one for the theater and one for social evenings.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, offering a bare hand to a person or showing oneself with bare hands, especially in front of a woman, was a sign of poor manners, therefore the gentleman had gloves available for all occasions. It was during the 1968 revolution that the symbolic and elegant expression of gloves fell into oblivion. Wearing gloves, both for women and men, lost its charm as they were considered a symbol of wealth and therefore bourgeois.
Today gloves are no longer essential in the men’s wardrobe and are worn only outdoors; the only exception, in closed places, are the white gloves for the tailcoat, generally in cotton, which should not be put on, but simply held in the hand. The elegant man will wear only leather gloves. With the black shoe it is preferable to wear gloves of the same color or as dark as possible, while with the brown shoe and with sportswear it is preferable to wear brown gloves in peccary (South American mammal, similar to a small wild boar). Another classic of informal clothing are the wool-padded lambskin gloves.
Source: http://www.tempusvitae.it/headlines/articolo_view.asp?ARTICOLO_ID=302
