If you pick apart Disney’s most iconic characters’ appearances, you’ll probably find that there are a lot of features that stand out. Take Mickey Mouse, for example. He has his big ears that are so iconic, their mere silhouette is enough to let people know that “yeah, this is a Disney property.”
In most cases, he has his red shorts on, too. And his big, yellow shoes.
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And even when he isn’t wearing those, he has his iconic white gloves on.
In fact, apart from his ears, those gloves have got to be Mickey’s most defining features. And he isn’t alone in wearing them either.
Minnie Mouse, Goofy, and a whole host of classic Disney cartoon characters wear white gloves.
There’s even a joke in A Goofy Movie where Max’s friend Bobby Zimmerusk asks, “Why do you think we’re always, like, wearing gloves?”
And no, it’s not just Disney characters who wear them either.
Across all the iconic classic cartoon properties, you’ll see colorful characters with the same white gloves on their anthropomorphic hands. Take Bugs Bunny or Woody the Woodpecker, for example.
The white gloved cartoon animal trend runs pretty deep.
After all, many, if not all of these characters have been around for decades and decades (or in the case of Mickey Mouse, nearly a full century).
So, why do they wear white gloves to begin with?
It’s something you may not notice, or think on too much. But once you realize that a lot of these characters sport white gloves on their hands, it’s bound to make you a bit curious.
As it turns out, there might not be a single, definitive answer.
According to John Canemaker, an animation historian and professor for NYU, many techniques were used to make the animation process as smooth and easy as possible , back in the days of hand-drawn cartoons, Vox reports.
This included things like making features round and simplistic.
A lot of characters of the time had long, black limbs and bodies that could stand out against a white background (since animation began before the era of technicolor).
But this in itself posed a new problem.
Audiences would have a hard time seeing a character’s black hands against their black bodies, which led animators to get a little more creative in that regard. Enter the white glove phenomenon.
In any case, white gloves have certainly become distinctive in the style of the era.
You can see the influence that Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, and other characters have, even today. Shows and games, like Cuphead , emulate that classic style, white gloves and all.
Even characters from more modern eras have those white gloves on.
Think Sonic or Mario, for instance. Whether it be ease of animation, or a homage to the early days of the craft, the white gloves are probably going to stay just as iconic as ever.
