Handmade European Lace in American Culture During the Gilded Age, 1880-1930

This thesis demonstrates that from 1880 to 1930, wealthy American women wore refashioned antique European lace to reinforce their Gilded Age identification with the European privileged class and to distinguish themselves from the middle class who were wearing machine- made lace. Even though couturiers such as Charles Frederick Worth continued to use fine machine-made lace when significant yardage was required for gowns, the overall commitment by upper-class Americans to fine handmade European lace stimulated a preference for handmade lace on all levels of American society.

Author

• Wolov, Beverly Efter

Language

• en

Keyword

• handmade lace
• machine-made lace
• lace and lacemaking
• refashioned lace
• Gilded Age lifestyle
• nineteenth-century American costume

Date created

• 2010

Type of Work

• Master's Thesis

License

• All rights reserved

Rights statement

• In Copyright

GW Unit

• Decorative Arts

Degree

• M.A.

Advisor

• Doering, Mary D.
• Anderson, Cecilia G.

Persistent URL

•  https://scholarspace.library.gwu.edu/etd/9z902z94k