There’s something very delicate, subtle and sexy, and quintessentially feminine about lace. It flatters a woman like no other fabric can. Its old-world charm and gossamer look can have anyone give in to its seduction. Which is perhaps why women have never been able to let go of lace. This summer, though, lace has made a comeback with a vengeance, as it plays peek-a-boo with the sultry sun.
Enticing sheer lace-back tops, lace trims on capri leggings or latticed sheer lace leggings, shoulder panels, racy short crop-tops or flowy skirts, sexy lingerie or show-offy bodices and bralets, elaborate scalloped lace borders on long flowery kurtas, lace-bordered net saris, lace shrugs — you name it and it’s there in every possible avataar. A wardrobe staple.
Fragile lace blouses and Dentelle lace featured predominantly in Delhi-based designers Pankaj & Nidhi’s SS15 collection The Vintage Closet at the last Wills Fashion Week. The designers have used intricate silk thread-work techniques to transcribe the elegance of lace in cape dresses and jackets. “As designers we love how lace can be used with such versatility to be demure yet strong and feminine yet fun at the same time. The current trend of subtle sheers and titillating transparencies work beautifully for us with the use of lace,” says the duo. “Each textile in the collection has been designed and engineered using embroidery techniques....for instance, the humble ric-rac lace commonly used in children’s clothes has been painstakingly hand-sewn at each curve and dimple to form a unique lace fabric,” they add.
“It’s pretty,” is the simple reason Aishwarya D. Arun, a 15-year-old student gives for why she owns a red lace-front top and a shrug, a lace Anarkali suit, as well as a pink lace stole. “All my friends have at least one kind of top in lace. It’s got a memory about it, of being old-fashioned, but it’s still ‘in’,” she sums up.
The quintessential white “bridal lace” has grown away from the wedding gown. Their delicate floral patterns, snowflake designs, or paisley motifs work great for a soft feminine look. While white still remains a hot favourite, bright colours are all the rage on chiffon tops, best teamed with jeans. Bollywood has taken lace saris to the red carpet, with Sonam Kapoor’s worn-with-a-jacket look winning her much praise even from cynical fashionistas.
While you can have a whole top or cardigan in lace, even a trim or a panel gives it that edge. Hand-crocheted thicker laces, India’s good-old favourite — the hakoba, have all made an appearance in newer avatars.
Vintage tulle lace, Venice and Chantilly lace, and African lace have made their bright and breezy presence on the ramp this spring-summer. Layered as capes over sleeveless dresses, or layered as airy-fairy longer skirts over opaque ones, or worked into jackets, lace has definitely worked wonders for the feminine form.
“Lace is feminine and beautiful,” says 27-year-old Samhita Chakroborty, who picked up a sheer lace top for all the right reasons. She goes on to talk of how the fabric brings back memories: “I studied in a convent where even our socks had lace trims! I’m from Bengal where it’s still fashionable for women to wear long-sleeved blouses with lace borders. My mum’s blouse had lace edges and I like it all because it’s so Victorian.”
