Lace is a fabric with a split personality.
In white christening gowns and wedding dresses, it conveys innocence. Used in lingerie and evening wear, it’s often in black, layered over other fabrics or nude lining, and takes on a sensual tone.
Lace ebbs and flows in popularity, but is never far off the fashion radar, particularly during the winter holidays.
This year, it is back with a vengeance, due in part to the extensive use Miuccia Prada made of it in her fall collection. The much- copied designer showed Swiss lace jackets and skirts, blouses and even handbags worked in intricate guipure, a type of heavy tape lace with big patterns over a mesh ground. She also ventured beyond black, showing lace in gold, orange and blue.
Prada’s costly creations — an outfit can top $4,000 — will no doubt become collector’s items, but the woman looking to add just a lacy touch to her wardrobe for the holidays will have no trouble doing it affordably. Such retailers as Urban Outfitters and Forever 21, as well as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, are offering everything from lace flats and hats with lace appliques to cocktail dresses and evening coats with overall lace or lace accents.
What’s the appeal? Los Angeles designer Sue Wong, who is known for her beaded and detailed evening clothes, says she uses a lot of lace because it makes a woman feel feminine and romantic.
“I like the idea of jet beading on lace, because while it is Victorian-looking, it has a little boudoir sexiness,” Wong says of a slip dress in her holiday lineup. “And when you put it over a mauve lining, it’s romantic and sensual.”
Lace, Wong says, was very big with the Victorians in the late 1800s and early 1900s, an era of conspicuous consumption and ornamentation.
Still she says, “I’ve always found it contemporary, totally suitable and wearable for today. You can take an antique or vintage touch and make it modern. I’ll be combining some lace with feathers going forward.”
She likes how women mix lace with denim or other nonfancy fabrics. “You can do it so many ways.”
Designers continually wrestle with how to make it look more modern than matronly. The late Christian Dior, famous for his French couture designs, offered this caution in his “Little Dictionary of Fashion” originally published in 1954, and reissued by Abrams in 2007: “I love lace for evening dresses . . . for a cocktail frock . . . or for a blouse.
“I am not so keen on it for trimmings — it easily looks old-fashioned. A little lace collar can look charming on a black frock but it must be chosen with discretion — you don’t want to look like Little Lord Fauntleroy!”
Lace maintained its exclusivity for so long because it was traditionally very costly to produce. Invented in Europe in the 15th century, the openwork fabric is made by looping, braiding, interlacing, knitting or twisting threads of various fibers to create a pattern. Originally handmade in silk or cotton and very costly to produce, lace is now widely machine-produced in Asia from nylon and other synthetic materials.
Still, French lace used in couture clothing and wedding gowns continues to be made on 36-inch wide looms, while other fabric comes in 48- 60-inch widths, says Brooks, a Denver custom designer who uses just her first name professionally. The designer, who creates bridal wear, as well as other clothing, says French lace typically costs her $250-$400 a yard, and she purchases it in 3- to 4-yard lots.
“The best lace comes from the older French mills,” Brooks says. “Other nations can knock them off, but it’s not the same.”
Brooks can easily use a dozen yards of fine lace in a wedding dress, but incorporates just accents of lace into jackets and blouses in her line.
“Women like it because it’s very feminine, but also sophisticated,” Brooks says. “You can add lace to a tailored jacket and it becomes expensive-looking.”
Suzanne S. Brown: 303-954-1697 or sbrown@denverpost.com
