From innocence to excitement... Why do we wear lace?

Dubai, United Arab Emirates - In a windowless room at the Metropolitan Museum, antique lace pieces dating back hundreds of years are displayed on wide black paper. The finest stitches were shaped into circles, spirals and even animal shapes, some of which took years to hand-craft with extreme precision.

In previous centuries, making just a few feet of lace required a long-term commitment spanning years. Today, it can be produced more quickly by machines.

During the past year, lace appeared widely on fashion week platforms, including the Chloe and Fendi shows. During the holiday season, lace designs are especially popular, adding a touch of excitement or elegance to party outfits.

A symbol of high social status Historian Elena Kanagai-Lux traces the origins of lace to the late 15th century, when it was used on a smaller scale as delicate, pointed edges and decorations. What began as a small decoration later evolved into more elaborate and complex, and later became a symbol of social status due to its high cost due to the arduous manufacturing process, not to mention its precision and fragility.

The seventeenth-century English historian Thomas Fuller explained that lace was not a necessary fabric in clothing. The cloth was “superfluous adornment, because it neither hides nor warms, but only decorates.”

Kanagy-Lux continued that placing lace on clothing, especially in places such as collars and cuffs that could get dirty easily, was a clear declaration of its owner's social status. Having the ability to purchase lace alone was not enough, it also required the resources to maintain it.

At some point, demand for lace became so great that it was regulated through consumer laws in the 16th and 17th centuries to reduce waste in consumer goods, according to the Smithsonian Institution. These laws were no exception; It also included restrictions on velvet, gold embroidery, satin, and other fabrics, but the ban was not always effective, and smuggling became part of lace's history.

With the advent of the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, primitive machines attempted to imitate the fine stitches of lace, but to no avail. Kannagi-Lux points out that British weavers and workers who protested against the mechanization of their craft smashed lace machines.

While many of its makers lost their jobs due to the industry, handmade and antique lace later became more valuable. With the outbreak of World War I, some makers in Belgium succeeded in preserving their craft by producing what is known as “war lace” at an American request, bearing Allied symbols, during the German occupation.

But interest in this fabric declined after about ten years with the beginning of the Great Depression, and the effort and interest in lace making diminished. Over time, in the second half of the 20th century, it became associated with old stereotypes, according to Kanagy-Lux.

For many years, the prevailing image in the West was that only old people made lace, but she pointed out that this was only partly true, as the craft was a skill that young people learned and did not give up. As its industry advances, AI will likely not play a large role in its production.

Although lace patterns can be designed using programs such as Photoshop, actual production using artificial intelligence is not widespread, according to Kanagy-Lux. Rather, its future may lie in the hands of artisans like Kanagy-Lux and her colleagues at the Brooklyn Lace Guild, which she founded with artist Elian Hutchinson in New York.

The organization organizes lace workshops, exhibitions and events to help preserve the craft. Kanagi-Lux explained that making it is a way to reconnect in the era of hyper-fast consumer culture.

Lingerie is more attractive and while lace has seen fluctuations in popularity over the following decades, it has continued to be used in wedding fashions and lingerie pieces. It was initially used to decorate linen underwear, but the pieces became smaller over time.

As technology developed, clothing became more tailored and made of thinner materials, and underwear became more attractive, according to Kanagy-Lux, which increased the demand for lace. When Kannagi-Lux began sharing videos of his history on TikTok to his more than 400,000 followers, some commenters expressed that they didn't like him because he often seemed "rough."

She attributes this to the cheap and quick way lace is produced today, where the end result is unfortunate. Interestingly, the speed of its production, even if it is of low quality, affects how high-quality lace is made.

Many fashion houses no longer use the handmade type because their customers do not want to wait for production, according to Kanagy-Lux. But although more luxury fashion designers are resorting to machines, not all machine lace is created equal, due to the difference in production quality between machines, such as “Livers” lace, which is known for its complex designs and is in demand by luxury fashion houses, and is made on specific machines that require five to seven years of training to learn to operate.

But these machines are no longer manufactured, and therefore its production may decline over time. In fact, this fabric has become so valuable that Chanel acquired a stake in a French lace manufacturer in 2016 to maintain its own production.