I've heard it said "the shoes make the man." That may be so, but sometimes gloves make the costume. We're not talking your everyday "keep your hands warm from the cold" gloves, or even slinky full-length opera gloves. It's interesting how just looking at a certain set of hands and you know exactly who that character is and how they should look. Let's take a look at some of the most unusual handwear out there and how it can turn an okay costume into an awesome costume.

	Probably the most recognizable set of hands in movie history. Edward Scissorhands was the twisted creation of Tim Burton, and (like most Johnny Depp characters) we all fell in love with the sheltered boy trying to make his way in the world of regular folk (if you can call them that.) He found scissors for hands can come in handy for trimming hedges and hair and best of all, ice.
	Razors, not scissors, adorn the leather gloves of Freddy Krueger, the dream stalker of the hit movie series Nightmare on Elm Street. Freddy uses the glove to kill his victims in their dreams, which causes their death in real life.
	Video game fans will recognize these gloves from the game HALO 3. If you're going to participate in an interstellar war between humans and aliens, well you've gotta have the right 26th century armor. This series hasn't been brought to the big screen, yet, but it's due to be released soon. Realistic Halloween costumes are already available for those who want to see the movie in character.
	Depending on your generation, you'll probably recognize one of these over the other. When you make pre-quels to incredibly successful movies entire generations later, you tend to get more elaborate costumes than the original. Such is the case with our hero/villain Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader. The padded gloves were good enough for Mr. Vader, but the younger, hipper Anakin had an elbow length version with metal embellishments. Either way, gloves make the Vader costume complete.
	These may look like any old robot hands, and they could work with any modern armored mech costume. But they belong to Optimus Prime, the Transformers hero frequently revived for movies, TV and comics.
	Two sequined gloves might bring to mind Judy Garland or maybe Sir Elton John. But one glove? Gotta be Michael Jackson. Although this costume piece was only part of Jackson's wardrobe for a short time (allegedly to cover a skin problem), it will forever be part of his image.
	Whether you're recreating the Creature From the Black Lagoon or just a creepy looking mermaid, webbed fish hands are a great way to transform yourself into a realistic aquatic being. I like to create webbed hands by sewing lycra between regular glove fingers, but these rubber creations are even better. Whenever you're creating monsters or other non-human costumes, the farther away you can get from human traits, the better. So, three-fingered webbed hands like these will look more like a fish. Where five-fingered webbed hands look like a human transformed into a sea creature, or just a human dressed up like one.

All these famous gloves and more are available at MoonCostumes.com. Even if you like to make your own costumes, sometimes the gloves can be tricky. Depending on the character, you may want to purchase the gloves and make the rest of the outfit. Moon Costumes is a great place to go for inspiration and reference photos, too.

Photos courtesy of MoonCostumes.com