How Thomasine Barnekow revived the habit of wearing gloves: the Swedish designer started her luxury brand from a commission in Tokyo – and is now loved by celebs like Billie Eilish and Margot Robbie

Mar 2 , 2024

Thomasine Barnekow has become the go-to glove maker for celebs, counting A-listers like Beyoncé, Bella Hadid and Kim Kardashian as fans. Photo: Benjamin Taguemount

The woman behind Thomasine Gloves is down-to-earth and learned how to sew in rural Sweden with her grandmother – today, her self-owned luxury brand is loved by celebs from Beyoncé to Bella Hadid

Barnekow ditched an offer from Central Saint Martins to study at the Dutch Design Academy instead, and opened her own atelier-shop near the Louvre in Paris, where her customers keep coming back

In less than a decade, Sweden’s Thomasine Barnekow has managed to become a go-to glove maker in a market segment dominated by French legacy houses. Now Paris-based but originally from a rural background, this talented and passionate designer has helped revive the habit of wearing gloves as a fashion statement.

Thomasine Barnekow is originally from rural Sweden, where she learned sewing. Photo: Kay-Paris Fernandes

Her creations have graced film premieres and festivals, television series and haute couture runways. A-listers like Anne Hathaway, Billie Eilish, Margot Robbie and Bella Hadid have all donned her signature pieces.

Beyoncé wore a custom Schiaparelli dress and a pair of Thomasine Barnekow leather gloves with gold fingernails at the 2021 Grammys. Photo: @recordingacademy/Instagram

She has been part of viral fashion moments like Beyoncé’s surprise appearance at the 2021 Grammys in custom Schiaparelli and a pair of leather gloves with gold fingernails, and Kim Kardashian fully covered in black Balenciaga and opaque gloves at the Met Gala’s red carpet in the same year.

Barnekow’s journey started when she decided to put her engineering studies on hold to pursue an interest in textiles. “I learned sewing and the quality of fabrics from spending time with my grandmother and old ladies on the farm in Sweden,” she says.

Thomasine Barnekow put her engineering studies on hold to pursue textile design. Photo: Benjamin Taguemount

She credits then studying abroad with allowing her to challenge herself and fully express her personality in her work. But having achieved the major milestone of being accepted for a place at one of the most prestigious arts schools – Central Saint Martins in London – she took a leap of faith and enrolled at the Dutch Design Academy Eindhoven instead.

“All the Swedish designers I knew at the time went to Central Saint Martins. I wanted to be one of the few who studied in the Netherlands,” she explains.

Kim Kardashian’s infamous all-black Balenciaga ‘fit at the 2021 Met Gala, including Thomasine Barnekow gloves. Photo: @kimkardashian/Instagram

After graduating, an internship in France was followed by jobs at renowned glove-manufacturing houses and numerous behind-the-scenes collaborations with established designers. A commission for a high-end department store in Tokyo was a turning point that pushed the up-and-coming designer to launch her eponymous brand. She felt the need to claim her own designs as she puts it: “If I am allowed to put my name on my gravestone, why should I be forbidden from signing my own creations?”