Lace is just Magic.

 

As I said in my last post, I'm more than a little fixated on the textile arts of the past. And here are a few examples of my favourite techniques, before I move on to explaining about my favourite eras. The first piece seen either side of this block of text is a lace flounce sample by French designer Alcide Roussel, made in France in 1867. It is held by the V&A, as are these detail photos, and may be accessed here. 

As you can see, not only does it demonstrate a level of skill so high as to be almost perfect (and, from the pictures you can view of it, I can't find a single mistake)

It's got everything. Beautiful natural observations, a fancy edging, a trompe l'oeil effect, it's just wow. But, I always wonder, what did people think of this kind of thing at the time? Well, reading through some of my newly downloaded books on lace, I have since discovered that there are a few problems with people's opinions on the craft. In books such as Mrs Emily Leigh Lowes' Chats on Old Lace and Needlework, first published 1908, and Mrs Bury Palliser's A History of Lace, 1875, there is a great debate as to when the golden age of lace was. And neither of them felt it was with them. Rather, it was in the 17th century in Italy. Personally, I can see where they're coming from in regard to the method of manufacture, but not in design. The threads used then were the finest, and the needlework the most intricate, but the patterns - to me, large and in most cases, a little clumsy. A good example of the larger lace styles can be found here, as part of a collection of costuming photos. It is part of this page, and the photo I would draw most attention to is this detail. I hope you'll excuse me for links, rather than images, but she seems to have rather a strict policy, though as an example of the style it's unbeatable. An incredible survival that makes me begin to believe the hype about Venetian lace is also held by the V&A, and was featured on another blog, Venetian Red. As they are sharing it and as I cannot find a link to this helpful image on the V&A site, I shall put in a detail below.

It's an Alb of Italian, almost definitely Venetian manufacture. Again, it's from the golden age (and the golden end of that golden age), 1675-99. I'm almost certain that it must be the same item as can be found here at the V&A.

I've been doing some calculations from that age, just to try and work out how much something like this would be worth. In Chats on Old Lace, as seen above, Mrs Lowes asserts (on pages 151-2) that William III's wife, Mary, had a lace budget, and that it climbed year on year. In 1695, her annual lace spend was up to £2,459. Whoa. But working out how much that came to in today's money was a challenge. Firstly, I headed on over to the calculator at Measuring Worth and entered the amounts. It was pretty difficult to decide which index to go with - and which category would this kind of Royal commission fall into? Was it only a commodity? Or was it a project? Imagining for a moment it was a single commodity, it seemed unreasonable to use the RPI, as the price of lace then compared with food and shelter now doesn't seem right, it being such a luxury. Using a wage index instead, it would be worth, £4,945,000. Using the GDP per capita, £7,043,000. Already, that's just huge. Imagine the Queen nowadays buying the cloth for some of her outfits for that amount of money and then paying an army of tailors labour costs on top. It couldn't be done! So if it's a project instead, which seems more likely, and as it's something that in the end is more or less a government expense, surely the share of GDP back then as a lump sum seems quite a good way to calculate. I'm assuming, from their summary, that this means looking at the country's output then, considering the sum I quoted as a percentage, and then scaling it up to today's budgets. Yes, that seems plausible. Then, the number. The 'economic cost' of the project by that measure would add up to £43,250,000. So, er, take your pick. I think, and I hope I don't come across as totally mad by saying this, but what I love about lace, and what I find magic about all textiles, is that when they're done properly, they are an expression of skill, of beauty, of taste. And, let's face it, we all love a little opulence. Yet, it's from such humble beginnings. Thread, back then, required skill to manufacture anyway, let's not forget. But I've heard that back in the day, the raw materials cost only one-seventh of the total lace budget. It's being able to take something plain and (nowadays) near worthless, and turning it into a piece of World Heritage. Amazing.