Gloves get a star turn

Dorothy Gaspar doesn't make gloves for meek women. Her sinuous leather creations -- like Louboutin stilettos for your hands -- are suited for martini-swilling minxes who smirk through apologies. Even folded over in repose, like sleeping swans, Gaspar's gloves are ready for a close-up.

Her creations have been stars in dozens of films: the cocoa gloves Angelina Jolie wore as she wrung her hands in "The Changeling," and the red, scallop-edged gloves Renee Zellweger fancied in "Leatherheads," for two. Gaspar also made gloves for "Titanic," "Batman Returns," "Charlie's Angels," "3:10 to Yuma," and "Nutty Professor II."

Gaspar, 44, in her soft, lilting Hungarian accent, gives a tour of her home workshop in the Mount Washington section of Los Angeles. Her industrial Juki sewing machine looks sturdy but weary. "Those die cutters are over 100 years old," she says of a cubby crammed with cookie-cutter-like tools. "They have always been in my family."

Her grandfather founded Gaspar Gloves in Budapest in 1890. Her father carried on the tradition; now so does she, after moving to Los Angeles and working for other glovemakers. By the early 1990s, she had struck out on her own and started working with movie studios.

Gaspar has a thriving off-screen following (www.gaspargloves.com). Her designs range from $75 for driving gloves to $185 for elbow-length styles; gloves that extend to the shoulder run to $275. Hands are traced to determine size. "I have a few fans who have 30 pairs. They always say, 'This is my last pair."'

"I'm always trying to come up with new, edgy designs," she says, gesturing to a gray-and-purple pair that laces up the middle like a corset. Equally unique are long moss green ones with more than a dozen leather-covered buttons. "I add buckles or zippers or try putting together new colors," she said.

If they're considering a remake, Gaspar has the perfect gloves.