Mickey’s white gloves on his black body have sparked a number of discourses claiming that the design of Mickey Mouse was based on 19th-century minstrel shows. However, the use of white gloves can be traced back much further in time, namely to the 16th century and the popularity of pantomime performances in Italy. White gloves were used by pantomime artists to create a contrast and make the visual appearance of the artists’ movements more readable. Against this background, it is difficult to uphold that minstrel shows are at the origin of Mickey’s white gloves. What can be said with more certainty is that they clearly provide for a visual separation of the character’s hands from the overall body. This was specifically very important in the Black and White era of animation. The three black lines that are visible on the outside of the glove represent the shape of fingers and one curved line on the inside of the glove is used to separate the thumb from the palm. In his autobiography, Walt Disney mentions that the reason for Mickey Mouse wearing white gloves was to enhance his anthropomorphic features and exclude proximity with a mouse. The use of this type of white gloves got its iconic place in animation history and was widely used in the creation of other characters, not only by the Disney corporation (Ülgen, 2023).