'caprices Of Fashion': Handmade Lace In Ireland 1883-1907

摘要

This essay examines late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century handcrafted Irish lace as material object related to both its conditions of production and its consumption with an emphasis placed upon the consumption of what was consistently referred to in the contemporary press as 'real lace'. Why, for example, would a woman specifically choose handmade Irish lace for her elegant court gown or bridal costume? What might have influenced a consumer to select Irish lace rather than imported lace? Did the wearing of 'real' Irish lace have any symbolic or social meaning beyond adornment? Might the relationship between patrons and workers be viewed through the lens of today's fair trade movement, thereby expanding the consumers' intentions and complicating the workers' conditions? The forthcoming exhibition of Irish lace at the Mansion House will, at least for a time, attract the special attention of English ladies to a handicraft which at all times was more or less the Cinderella of woman's work. Hardly any other industry has had so many ups and downs during the four centuries of its existence, suffered more under the caprices of fashion, or has been more harassed by sumptuary and arbitrary laws.