FRENCH LACES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 229, 26 September 1940, Page 14

FRENCH LACES.

CENTRES WIPED OUT. Women the world over will sigh with regret to know that one of the minor tragedies of the war in France is the wiping out, for a long time to come, of the famous lace industry of that country, states an exchange. All the beautiful Valenciennes, Mi lines and French Alencon laces, so much used today, and the filmy Chantillv lace, so feminine and romantic when worn in the evening, will be produced 110 longer. The chief lace-making centres were Calais and Caudry. Both of these districts were subjected to terrific bombardments. Calais was reported to be in ruins.

Introduced by Henry 111. of France in the sixteenth century and encouraged and developed by Louis XIV. in the seventeenth century, French laces have long been famous for their quality and craftsmanship. In Lyons, situated in the south-east of France, hand-run Alencon lace and silk nets are manufactured. In Lyons, too, is produced the biggest percentage of the world's requirements of velvet ribbons and veilings. This city, also, was visited by German bombers. The fate of these industries is not yet known. Certainly good stocks of French laces are still available, and it will be some time before these are exhausted. The sad fact must be faced, however, that they cannot be replenished. And the days will come sooner or later when "Dentelle de France" will be difficult, perhaps impossible, to procure. |