Dear Lucie
A couple of comments to add to Lorelei's excellent resume: In 1812 lace was not particularly fashionable. The industry in France had not yet recovered from the French Revolution, and English and American fashions, as always, followed the French. What there was, as she described it, was rather simple, with lots of net ground and very sparse motifs. However some (old-fashioned) men would still have been wearing lace, on cravats and shirt cuffs. In contrast by the 1860s, lace was everywhere. Machine lace was by then readily available, and there had been a great leap forward in lace design, of which Beds-Maltese is just one example. Huge Chantilly black lace shawls were just the thing to wear over your crinoline. So pretty much anything goes. But men's dress had become more sombre, and lace for them was a no-no. You will of course have to decide how fashionable you want your characters to be. But for those who could afford it there would have been no problem importing the best lace from Europe. Apart from various wartime embargos (which were widely ignored) trade flourished at both these periods. Bridget Marrow, in Pinner, near London, England. - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]
