New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-05-09
HANDMADE LACE.
Veils and GOtcns on Tiesc an Paris
Greatly Interest Women.

Paris. April %
The exhibition Of handmade lace IN the GaIliera
Museum. opened on Sunday by Nine. Loubet
a-ouses keen interest among American women now
IN Paris A revival % the handmade lace industry
OF Bayeux and AIencon-vhere the finest handmade
lace in the world, that Of point d'AlencOn. point
Colbert and point de France" IS produced by
twelve hundred skilled women and Eirls-has set
IN owing TO TIE increasing demand for handmade
lace FOR gowns wells, hanokerchiefs and trimmings
Cor ball and dinner toilets and FOR turs one %
the results OF the present exhibition has been 70
prove thar the handmade lace worked to-day IN
NORMANDY IL quite equal 70 the celebrated lace
produced in the seventeenth and eighteenth cenJu-
yes. No piece OF old lace can now be found IN
France that discOses Amer and better work than
gre lace dress made by the denteIneres Of Alenc0u
Tor the Empress Eugenie. than the point d'Aleu-
cen wedding vel which was made for the Countess
Bon de CasteIlane and which. as Mss Gould. she
wore on her wedding day. These laces are, OF
course objects OF great luxury. The dress made
sor te Empress Eugene for instance cost-the lace
portion alone-S20OJ0 and $500 francs. s. 90.
kras aid far tha Contesse de CasteIla-le's bridal
vel Indeed, the average price q ne best hand
SnAdeAleneon lace IS so a metre.
The cH.ly wages Of the women ana girls who
saske these ene laces IS only four i've francs
DO c.nts 81. The work is well organized
that elaborate dress can be made n eleven
Enc1rns- A thousand pairs or hands work siuuI-
kanscuEy. but az different villages. on the same
Fc-k. few square inches Of pattern are dis
t16utsd 20 the best workers. and these are after
gard collected and Joined tgether IN the central
establishment AZ Bayeux. N Auvergne and IN the
department OF ths Vosges over q hundred thousand
women and girls eTs employed making lace. but
che Auvergne and the Nosges lace IS a much
coarzer and cheaper article than the beautiful
point de Colbert" and point dc France made
exclusively IN Normandy. Near PUy, IN the Au-
vergne. which Is the centre o. the ''guipure' or
so-caued Maltese lace industry. FOR bed quilts win
COW curtains. etc. several American houses are
already established and doing a thriving bust
ness. the girls and women working Tor the Amer
ican market with great avidity.
A capital feature OF the hand lace exhibition
Is he .uxtapos5t.on OF handmade lace produced
to-day with specimens OF lace made IN the seven
tsenth and eighteenth centuries and with machine
made lace. Even 4 cursory inspection shows that
the modern handmade point de FRANCE is equal
20 the most famous historic specimens. and beside
the machine made lace the Norman handwoTk
seems very much as the finest champagne when
compared with the toughest cider.
The lace exhibition contains designs ana eescrip-
lions submitted by Colbert 10 Louis XIV with the
result that the first lace school established in
France in 1865. and Italian workers were brought
from Venice and Burano TO teach their art 70 the
French peasants. The new laces quickly obtained
popular favor; court Pallant's costume was COM
pete without rUffies OF fine lace at throat wrist
and knee. women wore II every garment and
no housewife content without table and bed
linen trimmed with the finest she could get. The
Duchess de Luyncs possessed a bedspread OF beau
uful lace valued s0go0 francs and thus patron
Ned by fhe public. the industry grew and -four
ished. The years preceding the Revolution found
II AZ its best; the work turned from differ
ent districts in the middle ~ the eighteenth cen
tary cannot be surpassed either in beauty OF de-
sign or IN dehcacy Of execution. In the district
around Lille. famous for the exquisite point de
flandre four beautiful dresses OF lace were made
representing the four seasons. which among
me finest examples 81 this kind OF lace extant. one
passed into the trousseau Of the Dauphine on her
marriage IN III second that OF spring. with a
graceful design OF coWsps and tulips formed part
or the trousseau OF Mile. Aufrere on her marriage
with Mr. Pelham. ancestor Of the present Earl Of
Marlborough. IN the year; a third was given
oy HI Burrel 20 his daughter on her marriage
With the Duke OF Northumberland. and the fourth
bought by a crowned head has since changed