The grandness and low density of head d’Alençon — also known as Alençon needlepoint lace — is due to the fact that it is made exclusively by hand with needles , thread and parchment , just as it has been for more than 350 long time , excuse Valérie Durand in an email interpret from French . Durand joined the National Alençon Lace Workshop in 2006 and is now its head . She was named " One of the Best Workers in France " by theCOET - MOFfor needle selection lace in 2019 for a Point d’Alençon bracelet she crafted .
Today ’s Alençon lacemakers like Durand learn the process during an apprenticeship that can last up to a X . And while other lacing may exact to be Alençon , the authentic stuff , which bears the name of the city where it was bear and perfect through thousands of Normandy lacemakers , is as inseparable from its place of origin as from its proficiency , she say . But interestingly , the narrative of this notable Gallic lace begins somewhere else .
The Origins of Point d’Alençon Lace
To begin the tale of acerate leaf lacing , we ’ll travel back to Venice , Italy , in the second half of the sixteenth century . accord to Durand , it was then that Venetian embroiderer first hand up their embroidery support and created " punto in aria " ( needlepoint in the airwave ) , which circulate throughout Europe .
Louis XIV and Colbert created the Manufacture des Points de France , and French cities with a strong lace - make tradition , such as Alençon , Aurillac and Sedan , welcomed imperial workshop with a 10 - year superintendence by the summit . These workshops were the only ones allow to produce various types of lace .
" French nobility were prohibit from wearing strange lacing and only state - accredit dealers were permitted to buy Gallic lace , " Amelia Soth wrote forJStor Daily .
Lace Prohibition, Smuggling and French Fashion
The king and Colbert ’s strategy forge .
" By early 1670s , this eccentric of French needle lace — Alençon — was already being admired for its high quality , " Majer says . Referencing the Holy Writ " Lace : A account " by Santina M. Levey , Majer explains that sumptuary jurisprudence also prohibited what commoners endure at that time , and fine fabrics like lace were bound to royalty only . forbiddance only increased its value , and there was a thriving smuggling of it across borders .
In 1675 , they had achieved their goal of create a Gallic lace industriousness , Durand says . The king did not renew the monopoly , but he did not call for to . exceed Venice , France had begun to set the tone in term of fashion .
By the mid-17th hundred , Alençon was a remarkable lace center with skilled workers — more than 8,000 in the city and its border sphere — and the style of Alençon needle lace develop harmonize to the tastes of queens and empresses .
The Painstaking Process of Making Alençon Lace
Despite its name , the importance and rarity of Alençon lace relates not only to where it is made , but alsohowit ’s made . The process include many stages , concord toUNESCO , beginning with pull and pricking the design on lambskin .
Next , the artisan creates an outline of the design and netting , stitches the patterns , add shading with more stitches , and then finally decorates the purpose and adds sculptural relief through embroidering . The lacing is removed from the parchment with a razor blade , then trimmed and polished .
Every lacing - maker could ( and still can ) complete every point of the process . Today it takes years to perfect through their a decadelong apprenticeship .
" In term of clothing and accessories , [ Alençon lacing ] was one of the cardinal signifiers of wealth and condition , " Majer says . It was extremely expensive and time - deplete to make . More than material , more than embroidery , a piece of Alençon lace of the highest quality could take month or up to a twelvemonth to make .
How Alençon Lace Was Worn
one C of years ago , openwork framework like Alençon lacing occupied an important place in the distaff and male costumes at theroyal homage .
At first , lace was used as an ornament on collars and cuffs . call back of the fashion seen in Renaissance paintings . But during the 2d one-half of the sixteenth century , lace developed as a cloth in its own right hand , not just edge , according to Majer .
By the late 16th and early 17th centuries , enormous ruffs of lacing had become pop .
char of the eighteenth 100 had many opportunities to weary lacing , including in caps , necklines , sleeve ruffles or even as aprons . Men were more likely to tire lace at the neck as a cravat or as cuffs , but by the 19th hundred , adult female had become the main market for lace .
In summation to the earlier accessories , women begin incorporating lace into dresses in the conformation of flounces , which could be removed and put on other dresses , Majer says .
In France , follow the upheaval of theFrench Revolutionand the unpopularity of the nobility , the lace industry decline . But in the early 19th 100 , Napoleon Bonaparteencouraged courtiers to wear Gallic needle lacing , especially Alençon lacing , and by around 1840 , the handmade lace industries of France had made a comeback .
" Alençon remained one of the very high - terminal lace , " says Majer .
When car lace took off in the mid-19th century , everyone had accession to lacing . But a connoisseur could tell the difference between a proficient motorcar - made lacing and handmade lace , so point d’Alençon remained in requirement among women of top societal status .
It was even popular among elect woman to jade passe breaker point d’Alençon lace from the 17th and eighteenth centuries . Today , it ’s hard to tell the conflict in these textiles , Majer explains . But man and woman of that earned run average know what they were look at .
The Status of Alençon Lace Today
The French Revolution , the wars and the appearance of machine - made lacing marked a slow decline in the production of Alençon lace , Durand explains . By the other 20th hundred , luxury production no longer held their commercial place in a guild that was changing economically and socially .
Nevertheless , a mystifying affixation to the craft remained and in 1903 , the Alençon Chamber of Commerce launch its lace schooling . Beginning in 1965 , it was manage by the associationLa Dentelle au Point d’Alençonand by 1976 , the French political science entrust to safeguarding the lace craft and created the National Alençon Lace Workshop that Durand now channelise .
" Today , we are nine lacemakers within this shop , " she explains . " [ Our ] primary missionary post is the conservation of the noesis of Point d’Alençon lacing , through practice session , research and transmitting . " The shop is bind to theMobilier National , a ministry of culture organization responsible for maintaining French article of furniture and fabric .
The nine lacemakers have mastered all 10 measure of making Alençon lacing during anapprenticeshipthat read from five to 10 years , and in accession to continuing the lacemaking tradition , the shop sells slice at theMusée des Beaux - arts et de la Dentellein Alençon . Roughly 10 pieces are sell there each year .
The technique wasinscribed by UNESCOon theRepresentative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanityin 2010 . UNESCO determined that " Alençon phonograph needle lacing is unusual because of the gamey grade of workmanship required and the very long time that it claim to grow ( seven 60 minutes per square centimeter ) . "
Put another manner byMobilier National , a design the size of a postage cast takes between seven and 15 hours of effort to complete .
That ’s a lot of work . But Durand tell true point d’Alençon lace is keep up and protect today because no machine can reproduce its special handmade stitch .
