Dear Jeri et al, I have saved your email in the Regency Lace file, so I can refer to it. As always, you give much food for thought. I hadn't thought of the Upper Rooms Museum on Costume, but good call. I well remember being there 13 years ago, when I didn't know nearly as much about lace history as I do now. I went looking, as always, for lace. Even though my understanding was that there was lace there, I think I found one thin piece of Valenciennes in all my search. Now, of course, I know a bit more, even before beginning my research, and also that I should have contacted the museum in advance for lace.
Being a Janeite since the age of 16, I am familiar with the costumes of the time, and familiar with the French Revolution which greatly affected the fashion of the times. Years ago I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's exhibit on Napoleonic fashion and have the catalog. Quite a resource. A slight perusal of fashion in Jane Austen's adulthood shows much more embroidery than lace. Some snippets of lace, but really, very little. Politics came into play there from the French Revolution, and as always, French fashion influenced female English fashion. The Romantic period saw a return of lace in all its glory, but that was after Jane Austen had died in 1817. I have ordered Jane Austen's World on your recommendation. Having started out my adult life as a teacher, I am well aware that I will learn a lot from teaching this subject, and I am greatly looking forward to it. Thanks, Jeri, for the boost in my resources, it is greatly appreciated. And while my personal library is not bereft of books on costume, lace history and embroidery, it is nothing to yours. Lyn in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA where the sun has finally appeared after several days of clouds. Other Arachne members may be interested in this subject. A reply to the list so it will be available for a future researcher in Arachne archives. To talk about lace of a specific period, we are faced with what I have preached on Arachne for 20 years. You need to know the who, what, when, where, how - especially how it was used and you need to know fashion history of the period. With Austen, there have been quite a few programs on PBS that can give you an idea of fashion. Most characters are not wearing lace. The societies that focus on Austen and her works are populated with ardent members who know fashion history. This was impressed on me during 2 separate trips to Bath and visits to the Jane Austen House Museum facing Queen Square and the Costume Museum further up the hill. The pretty "commercialized" museum about Austen is free to look at, and under the "Online Magazine" heading you can learn about fashions: On the same research computer trip, you might like to visit the Museum of Costume, which is in the same building as Assembly Rooms where Austen and her characters went to dance, play cards, flirt, etc.www.janeausten.co.ukhttp://www.fashionmuseum.co.uk In the Regency period (1811-1820), fashion was very different than previously. In the past, women wore lavish amounts of lace on petticoats, bodices, sleeves, collars, bonnets. In the late 1700s and early 1800s, the fashion was for more simple attire, perhaps influenced by the American 1775-1783 and French 1787-1799 Revolutions. War debts of all three nations must have been enormous. International trade was impacted. Yes, after the Reign of Terror, the clothing in France was quite simple for a variety of social and economic reasons, and may have had some influence on fashion in England. Though you do not see much lace during the Regency period, you do see various types of embroidery on muslin and net, including tambouring - which is sometimes classified as lace. Queen Victoria was born in 1819, two years after Austen's 1817 death at age 41. By the time of Victoria's coronation, fashions were back to very full skirts and elaborate features of lace, ribbons, feathers, etc., as can be seen in books about the Queen. You might try a timeline of fashion, starting with the 1761 Coronation portrait of Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and ending with the 1838 Coronation portrait of Queen Victoria of Great Britain - with fictional characters and the laces and fashions they might have worn, as invented by Austen, in between ! On G**gle I found that Queen Charlotte was a Regency Queen. There were two other Queens in between: Caroline of Brunswick and Adelaide of Saxe-Coburg, whom you might like to include. You have a resource at your fingertips - Arachne's archives. Have you searched what we have been writing - by famous person, historical period, lace, and fabrics ? http://www.mai l-archive.com/[email protected]/index.html Two of my book reviews, by date, are examples: 1. 1/19/13 - Muslin by Sonia Ashmore, pub. by Victoria and Albert I cannot imagine another recent book that would give more info about muslin. 978-1-78097-287-9 2. 11/13/13 - "White-Embroidered Costume Accessories the 1790s to to 1840s" by Heather Toomer Self-published. Toomer lives near Bath and her research is original. You might find some photos in her large book "Antique Lace" published in the U.S. by Schiffer. Be sure to look at 4 edgings in Plate 238, and History text near it. 978-0-7643-1384-3 Both have extensive Bibliographies that send you to other books with cotton references, period fashions, etc. Both have illustrations that are of the period, and a few cartoons that could enliven a talk. Not much lace, but books that your audience in Lancaster may not have seen. Perhaps available via Interlibrary Loan ? Check for art of the period in museums via computer. Check available books in a public library under the Jane Austen category. A great many books have been published, quite a few in recent years. A well-illustrated book that would give you a broad foundation for your talk is "Jane Austen's World - The Life and Times of England's Most Popular Author" by Maggie Lane, Carlton Books, 2013, 978-1-78092-287-9. On page 112 there is an illustration of "Two young ladies in Calico taking an airing in a phaeton" by Humphry Repton. Search title and artist to find on computer. This should give you a start on your research. A reminder that a good lace library includes books about textiles and costumes. And, embroidery. Jeri Ames in Maine USALace and Embroidery Resource Center---------------------------------------------------------In a message dated 5/21/2015 8:48:56 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: I have been roped in to speak to my local Jane Austen Society about lace in Jane Austenââ¬â¢s time. "My email sends out an automatic message. Arachne members, please ignore it. I read your emails." - 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/
