{laced with style}

{image: "newcastle" by wildquaver8 on flickr}

While I can appreciate the sheer prettiness and femininity of lace, I never imagined it coming back into fashion . . .

The history of lace dates as far back as the fifteenth century, when Charles the Fifth required lace-making to be taught in the schools and convents of the Belgian provinces. At this time, lace was solely based in fashion, mainly to replace embroidery as a means of transforming dresses to follow differing styles of fashion, since, unlike embroidery, lace could be removed from one material and placed on another.

Many styles and techniques of lacemaking have developed since, and almost all of them in these very Belgian provinces, making it known as the birthplace of lace.

The use of lacy patterns in design is not new (Marcel Wanders' 1996 Knotted Chair immediately comes to mind, or Thomas Paul's Gothic Dinner Plate Set). Below are a few examples of modern interpretations of this very old and very beautiful artform.

{A new use for the lace doily by Paul Lowe, via Emma's beautiful blog}


{A tear-sheet of an old Chloe advert, most likely from British Vogue}

{Lacy lamp at Glamchic}

{Window in the Taj Lake Palace, Udaipur by Shilpi Singh}

{Pretty, lacy accessories from a tear sheet from (most likely) Gotham}

{Marcel Wanders Studio Crochet Chair, hand-crocheted and coated with a fibre resin--via Maison Lunatique}

{The amazing Gothic Excavator sculpture on the Belgian coast by the often controversial, always thought-provoking Belgian conceptual artist Wim Delvoye}


{Renovated terrace house in Melbourne via All Things Bright and Beautiful}


{Lacy architectural features via Desire to Inspire}

Sand-blasted white carrera marble console via Maison Lunatique}

{Windowsill in Lanark, Scotland, taken this summer}