Your Stylist: Fingerless gloves for the stylish, tech obsessed set

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Resident Image stylist and market editor Melissa Magsaysay soothes your sartorial woes in the weekly Your Stylist blog column.

In this installment of Your Stylist we take a look at the growing popularity of fingerless gloves. Not just because it’s cold outside, but because tweeting and texting is a way of life for most people and their overworked fingers need love too. If you’re planning on gifting someone an iPad or anything with touchscreen technology or well, a key pad, fingerless gloves might be a nice thing to bundle in.

Having numb and frigid fingers never seems to stop people from texting on their Blackberrys or tapping the screen of their iPhone. But as the cold weather lingers, it might be smart to get an accessory that does double duty by keeping your hands warm while still allowing you to text, type, take photos with a digital camera or film things with your Flip Cam.

Fingerless gloves are nothing new (hello, Madonna, Cyndi Lauper and David Bowie). They were a style staple of rebellious ‘80s pop stars and have come back on the hands of Taylor Momsen, Rihanna and tons of teens and twentysomethings for whom texting, tweeting and typing is a full-time job no matter what the climate.

And while fingerless gloves have always been easy to find (a pair of scissors will always do the trick if a full-fingered pair becomes too much) it seems that more and more companies are making fun styles of fingerless gloves to suit the rapidly growing tech-savvy culture.

A brand called Twitten creates mittens that promise to never let the bite of winter hit your skin, whether you’re surfing the net on your iPad or holding hands with a loved one. They make mittens with a little hood that folds back to free your fingers. They also make a mitten that accommodates a couple who want to remain holding hands, but need to stay warm while doing so. Two mittens are essentially connected at the middle and hollow throughout, so the bare hands can meet (which is great if you’re that cold, and that committed to holding someone’s hand).

Etre Touchy gloves are really geared to those who need their fingers free. They make gloves with the tip of the index finger and thumb missing, so swiping the screen of your favorite touch screen gadget doesn’t get cumbersome.

Stripes and color seem to be a big trend among the fingerless gloves out there currently. Gloves are a perfect way to add a pop of color or pattern to an outfit, especially if you tend to stick to black, gray and denim. Also, if you’re wearing a 3/4- sleeve jacket or shirt and still feel a little chilly, gloves are a great layering piece and add that hint of late ‘90s grunge to your ensemble.

Some adorable styles are this black-and-white marbled knit pair from Club Monaco ($59) as well as a very sexy (yes, sexy) pair of bright red, knit gloves with hook and eye closures on top from Rag & Bone ($144). They’re a gorgeous color and would look tough and stylish peeking out from the cuff of a leather motorcycle jacket.

Send your style queries to melissa.magsaysay@latimes.com.

-- Melissa Magsaysay

Top photo: Etre Touchy gloves ($31.70) from Etretouchy.com. Credit: Etre Touchy

Second photo: Club Monaco Tia Donegal gloves ($59) from Shopbop.com. Credit: Shopbop

Third photo: Twitten mittens ($36) from Thetwitten.com. Credit: Twitten

Right: Rag and Bone gloves ($144) from Shopbop.com. Credit: Shopbop