Hi Jane et al Thank you for this very well written and informative report which I'm sure will be of interest to many who are not able to travel to Bath.
I think it would be a good idea to send this to the Museum so that they are aware of the opinion of customers. It is probably too late for them to change anything for this display, but perhaps it will bear fruit in future. Does anyone know if LED lights damage fabric? If not, then some changes could be made quite easily and immediately, or someone planning to go could take a torch with them to look at details. Malvary currently in Camariñas, Spain for the XXVII Mostra do Encaixe Sent from my iPad > On Apr 12, 2017, at 11:55 PM, Jane <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi All, > > Just back from Bath, a 70 mile, 2 hour journey each way, so rather tired. But > I don’t remember seeing any comment here on the ‘Lace in Fashion’ exhibition, > although I know lacemakers have been to see it. > > So a few comments before I go to bed….. > > I guess I felt it was a bit of a let down. The exhibition was fairly small, > about 30-40 dresses, and it focussed mainly on machine made lace, and on > recent (1950's onwards) and current fashions. > > It started well. The first display unit contained a lace pillow with a lovely > piece of Beds made recently by Dawson, I can’t remember the first name but I > wondered if it was a relative of Miss Dawson. There were some lovely old > gloves embellished with embroidery and metallic lace, but I couldn’t make out > the lace. I had the same problem with the man’s tunic. It was decorated with > blackwork and trimmed with a very narrow border of lace, an early work of > 1620-1650 (I’m not very good at dates so this could be quite wrong). The > parchment lace tissue dress was also on display here. > > It seemed to me that handmade lace was presented as an incredibly expensive > fabric and that it was very quickly replaced by machine made lace. The next > display unit moved on to Jacquard, Leavers and Raschel, etc, machine made > lace gowns. There was nothing about the collars, berthas, flounces, caps and > so on that were fashionable for decades. (Just one cap with lappets on > display). There was a hand made Irish crochet dress, a dress decorated with > Blonde, and a more recent outfit included a Bucks Point collar which I could > hardy make out, but nothing that really represented the hey-day of lace in > fashion. > > About half the exhibition was made up of recent designers, such as Hartnett, > Amies, Lagerfield and so on, but none of these used hand made lace. There was > a sparkly evening gown worn by the Queen Mother and a sculptured mini-dress > from the recent James Bond Spectre film. > > There was a beautiful dress, believed to have been worn by Queen Charlotte, > wife of George III, empire style, diaphanous fine white lace over a silk > under gown and with a short train. Unfortunately it was almost impossible to > see the lace because of the dim lighting. And this was a problem throughout > the exhibition. Time and again, I couldn't see the lace. Also, I was looking > forward to seeing the parchment lace dress, but it was too dim for me to work > out how it was made and no explanation was given. > > I guess the exhibition reflected the collection that the Museum holds, rather > than representing the changing trends of lace in fashion over the centuries. > I imagine it would be interesting to students of modern fashion, but I think > there are better places to go for those interested in hand made lace and > costume. > > I’d be interested to hear other opinions, others might have a very different > impression. > > From a travel-weary > Jane > In Hampshire, UK > > - > 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/ - 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/
