Again, the Queen's Gallery exhibition threw some light on this, certainly on expensive the laundry skills a lace wearer would need to buy. However, there were also some thought-provoking comment on how accurately the clothes in the portraits mirrored what the subjects would have worn. Clearly, in a picture you can wear the biggest pearls the artist can paint, and "Robe" magazine points out that several of Mr Lely's ladies wear the same scarf, and suggests he buys a new one! Samuel Pepys's robe in his portrait is known to have been borrowed. Painted lace is not torn by painted gems! However, the deeper point is that to some extent the very rich and fashionable would not wear all their latest finery, and the ladies dressed in negligent fashion, showing a fair amount of neck and so forth (and quite a bit of and so forth in some cases) would have worn more in Court, which would have included more lace round the neck. Equally, men and women would not wear the more extreme ephemeral fashions, as that would make the portraits date very quickly; Charles II wears his petticoat breeches in woodcuts and similar, but not in formal oil painted portraits. The fashion for heroick and mythological portraits had a practical reason. On lace cuffs, this would be a problem mainly for men, and while lace ruffles at the end of sleeves were very fashionable for ladies (engageants) they happened higher up the arm, to show off the white forearm below, and their shape number and size as well as position changed with fashion - those who know use this as a key dating method. Dress collections often have men's coats/jackets with the lace ruffles sewn in the sleeves, which tends to indicate use as fancy dress, when the 19th or 20th century wearer could take the coat off to eat, preserving both it and the lace from tines, gravy and chocolate sauce. [email protected], melting in London Date: Mon, 15 Jul 2013 20:28:39 -0400 From: Shell <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [lace] Lace Conservation - Fork Tines vs. Lace Cuffs
What a very cool way to start a lace talk. Would definitely get the attention of those attending. Amazes me how often some wear knit lace shawls with long draping ear rings and jewelry. Snags almost always occur. It occurs to me that would often occur with lace cuffs and collars in the past. Yet many portraits show elaborate jewelry with the lace. Would not be for every day wear, yet I would imagine that the ladies maids were somewhat versed in the care and repair of the lace. - -- Smile! Shell - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
