Jeanne Hermans Knows Drama With the Opera (Glove)
Photos by Julia Hermans
It’s one of the first beautiful days in New York City since winter and I’m meeting a first timer to not only New York City but America itself to bring her couture gloves to the states and teach how to make them with classes in New York City and Chicago respectively for a few short weeks. In full agreement, we decide weeks prior that this glovemaker from The Netherlands must experience an American diner, so we set our day to Soho Diner with an aesthetic and food to fit the bill. Thirty year old scorpio Jeanne Hermans is the founder of C’est Jeanne, a glove and luxury brand based in The Netherlands and a graduate of the Master Tailor Institute in Amsterdam with experience from an impressive span of ateliers including an embroidery studio, a bridal salon, and the costume department of the Dutch National Opera. Upon arrival she’s glamorously chic with large luxurious sunglasses, a black mock turtleneck tank that reveals her upper arm tattoos, and black slacks ready to take you through her atelier of glovework with her down-to-earth personality. We grab a burger, drinks, and chicken & waffles for the table and get ready to dig in (bad pun intended) to the journey of C’est Jeanne.
“I think I’m born for my job,”Hermans starts off when I ask to take it from the top of how she got interested in glove making in the first place.
“I’ve been sewing as far as I can remember making doll clothes. When I was nine my mom put me in all sorts of sports and none of it was my thing or working, so she said let’s try sewing. [I had] sewing lessons once a week with an older lady and that was it for me. [I] remember the first little dress I made myself.”
(when she was nine)
“I still remember wearing it to the Christmas dinner at school and my teacher was like. “Did you make this?” and I went “Yeah.” Core Memory.”
Hermans would go on to greater schooling after high school to learn the basics and become a tailor, start making gloves on the side while admittedly being bored and ahead of the class, take on 8-9 internships as mandatory for school, replicate a couture Dior gown from the 40s as part of her final, and receive a call from the opera before graduation to work in the costume department at the Dutch National Opera.
“Gloves seem interesting because you can’t just go on Youtube and type in “how to make gloves” like you can with a blouse or skirt–the information is out there. The teacher had a book from the 70s on glovemaking that she loaned to me and I just figured it out on my own…Choosing gloves was a complete accident and out of technical interest.”
In 2017 C’est Jeanne was born and the first pair of gloves that were a solid mesh with lace detail, a.k.a. Vittoria, was sold. Vittoria along with the rest of Hermans’ gloves are Italian fem names–Giulia, Natalia, Ravenna, Valeria, Domenica, and so many other ladies.
“...because I didn’t want to have a boss anymore I was like well let’s start a company, but also I’m broke as balls, and I thought with gloves there’s little fabric, and voilà, the brand was born.”
Fast forward post graduation in 2019 and working at the opera, the COVID-19 pandemic arises and shifts things for Hermans to start working at gender affirming underwear company Untag as a freelancer for 4 years and by 2022 and 10K followers later, Hermans wanted to take C’est Jeanne more seriously.
“I thought October is always a good month for me and Halloween, and so the black, opaque gloves with the cuts, with the red embroidery…I feel like that was the official start of the company.
What was her name?
“Katja. One of the most popular one’s. Those were like the rebirth of the brand and she became an adult October of 2022.”
C’est Jeanne was reborn along with a video series that would launch the brand into a whole other level with 100K followers in only one month with “Glove of the Week,” designed as a means to generate new designs as a challenge paired with accountability with posting each week on Instagram.
“First two or three weeks? Hell. The dopamine you get from producing a stack of binders from Untag was incredible but it wasn’t the same with gloves since it took so much longer.”
You’ve had your gloves showcased everywhere and worn by everyone. Which celebrity were you like, oh my god?
“Miley Cyrus. We didn’t know it was for Miley Cyrus, we only knew it was for Vogue. I remember we were having a family barbeque and someone that’s an elderly stylist in my country, he emailed me “congrats on Britney Spears,” and I was like “wait, what?” and we went online obviously and it was Miley and he somehow got it confused. Very funny. But we didn’t know until we saw it on Instagram. It was just so cool.”
What are your dreams?
“I’d love just to be able to pay my rent. Have a little house somewhere in The Netherlands with my boyfriend and cat. Have my company be sustainable but in a way I’m completely happy about.”
What’s something exciting coming up for C’est Jeanne?
“We have a patreon now with pictures of the process and how everything is made and I love to talk about it and enjoy the process so we’re excited for the patreon.”
In March 2025, Hermans quit her “real” jobs to pursue C’est Jeanne full-time and now a little over a year later this brunch at Soho Diner feels like a welcomed break between her busy schedule during her time in New York before she does the same thing in Chicago saying herself, “After New York it won’t be the same.”
Featured: Jeanne Hermans
Gloves: C’est Jeanne
Writer: Karlye Whitt
Editor-in-Chief: Karlye Whitt
Photographer: Julia Hermans
Location: Soho Diner
