Lace has a special place in my heart. Ever since, as a slightly emotional teen, I took to lace gloves and peek–a-boo lace tops with the ferocity of a stage mother at a beautiful bubs contest.
I liked how it made me feel girly and you know, a bit sexy and dramatic. That’s the thing about lace, you can transform yourself into a grown-up sex bomb, or perhaps a sweet and sugary ingenue who whistles and crochets, or even someone who plays in a gothic cabaret band.
If you think about it, lace does indeed suit just about every occasion. You can get married, perform a saucy circus vaudeville burlesque act, shock your Aunty Enid or put a tea cup on one of your Nan’s lace doilies on the kitchen table.
I’m certainly not alone in my fondness for lace. Along with Grandmas around the world, we have lace luminaries like Madonna, Dita Von Teese and Charlene Robinson (Our Kylie) when she married Scott on Neighbours to thank for keeping the dream alive.
Fashion designers have of course been using this rather decadent fabric for centuries in everything from lacy knickers to cocktail frocks. This enduring love of lace will be explored in the Lace in Fashion exhibition, opening at the NGV later this month.
The exhibition will showcase lace from the 16th to the 20th century. Roger Leong, one of the exhibition’s curator’s says that fashion designers continue to use lace because of its history as a luxury, elegant fabric.
“The more recent association with lace and lingerie, going back to the nineteenth century, and still very potent today gives designers a lot of material to rework… lace was at the forefront of luxury and fashion for several centuries and that history still informs our responses to lace today,” he says.
The way designers work with lace has of course changed. Several designers used lace at this year’s Rosemount Australian Fashion Week in Sydney, such as the heavy-duty lace, like wrought iron, that Bianca Spender used in her ethereal collection.
Other Australian Designers, like Collette Dinnigan, who got her start in lacy whispers of sweet nothings, have ensured that lace remains entirely desirable.
As Paola DiTrocchio, the assistant curator of the Lace in Fashion exhibition says, the most pronounced change in the way designers work with lace is the transition from handmade lace to machine made lace, which started in the late 18th century.
“Machine made lace made lace dresses a possibility, though they can still be incredibly luxurious and expensive,” says DiTrocchio.
For those, like me, who tend to be a know-it-all and like to “spot” things when at an exhibition, DiTrocchio suggests looking out for things such as the small dog running along the border of the Alencon lace. Or you could say in a loud and boasting manner that the 1956 film costume from The Opposite Sex that is also featured, was made by the designer who created Grace Kelly’s wedding dress.
The exhibition will be showing 50 works, including some Balmain frocks.
Whatever the case, your best “get lucky” lacy knickers deserve an outing for this celebration of lace, in all its luscious lustre.
Lace in Fashion is on at the National Gallery of Victoria from July 23, 2010 to January 23, 2011. Free.