Thank you Vicki for identifying the house! I’ve been racking my brain to remember because it didn’t seem like Dior & Givenchy sourced high-end embroidery from Lesage. I met Odette Arpin (Meilleur Ouvrier de France en dentelle Cluny) in 2002 & she showed me a photo (same one?) of a long gown with hundreds of leaves on the bodice & a floaty layered chiffon skirt. It was strapless & dreamy! I was under the impression that the leaves were gold, as in metallic thread, but maybe that’s a factor of my lousy French & the fact she didn’t speak English. Nevertheless, she was a gracious hostess & showed us her exhibit of personal items (fans, gloves, parasol etc—some of which were lace) that had belonged to a 19thC Portuguese queen. She also autographed her Cluny book that I had bought in a miniature tabac in LaBourboule, where we were staying. We were a small group of crazy quilt stitchers & we used our mid-week day off to make a whirlwind tour of Brioude. We also found a! haberdashery where handmade lace (Torchon-like trims & insertions) was still sold by the yard & a brocante with 19thC fashion magazines. We all bought some of each! So—designers have used handmade lace sporadically thru the years/collections but it’s way too expensive for pret-a-porter. It’s a very thin slice of the fashion market. Sincerely, Susan Hottle
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