I had one of those mom assignments today—to go out and find white gloves for my son.  Not for prom, but to complete his Cogsworth the Clock costume for his HS production of Beauty and the Beast.  I had been told I could find men’s white gloves at the local tuxedo shops, so today I stopped by the most convenient one on the way to the post office.

They didn’t have white gloves.  Neither would the other tux shop in town, they assured me, because “no one wears gloves anymore. ”

Humpf.  I didn’t believe them, but they were clearly not going to help, so I walked out and went down the block and across the street to the local community college in search of a phone book. I spotted an Information sign in the lobby and headed over to ask for the yellow pages. 

“What are you looking for?” the Information woman asked as I paged through the book. I told her, and within moments had every woman within earshot confirming that yes, men do still wear white gloves and offering ideas for where to find such gloves:  a wedding shop, said one. A Quinceañera shop, said another. And then they started giving me directions to all the various wedding and Quinceañera shops in the area. (For those who don’t know,  Quinceañera is the religious and social celebration of a young woman’s 15th birthday in Latin American cultures.  Kind of like an Hispanic bat mitzvah.)

I didn’t need a phone book, I needed women! Women know this stuff and are willing to share what they know (the same principle, btw, that makes the Romance Writers of America so successfully inclusive.)

I ended up with a pair of simple gloves I picked up at the pharmacy–the kind you wear to bed with sloppy cream on your hands–for $3.09.  I stopped there to ask for directions to one of the shops when I couldn’t spot it. And there hung white gloves.

It turned out the other tux shop does carry men’s gloves, for about $9—and they snorted at the idea that “no one wears gloves any more.” Guess which store my son went to to rent his prom tux?

Tomorrow, I have to go buy a handlebar mustache. Wish me luck.