The lace industry and fashion in the early 20th century

I’m writing a chapter for a textile book looking at how the demand for lace changed after the first world war. This image comes from a Samuel Peach catalogue of 1904 and shows a typical blouse of the time made of lace and net. James Laver in his History of Costume notes that at this time there was ‘a passion for lace in every part of the gown’. However by 1910 fashions changed, with the introduction of narrow skirts and drapery, and Laver says that the favourite trimming was no longer lace but buttons. Pat Earnshaw in Lace in fashion describes most of the early twentieth century lace collars as Irish crochet, handmade Maltese lace, or chemical guipure lace, with silk bobbinet being used for cravats. She notes that patterned machine laces were popular among those who could not afford ‘real’ lace. However ‘real’ lace was time consuming to make and at the 1910 Brussels International Exhibition the machine lace on display was so original and artistic that the prestige of handmade lace began to decline. From then until 1920 machine lace was popular for evening wear but, during the war, clothes in general were simpler and did not include lace. In 1919, after the war, silhouettes became tubular and little lace was used at all. Despite the attempts of institutions like the Bucks Lace Making Industry, in the English East Midlands, and others in continental Europe, which tried to maintain the hand lacemaking industry through charitable commissions, handmade lace production was no longer commercially viable. Machine lacemaking continued for a while but was to decline throughout the century.