16 thoughts on “SNARK WEEK: Battenberg Lace

  1. Interesting! I’d love to learn more about what kinds of lace were period appropriate. Are there any shows that get it right? I feel like there can’t be many, cause I can’t even really visualize it.

    1. Lace is a huge detailed topic of its own & I’m not an expert, but a lot of the modern machine-made laces — esp. the cheaper stuff found at craft stores — look very wrong compared to lace that’s 100+ years old.

      A couple good ones for early lace: Restoration (1995) used tons of lace, appropriately for the 17th c., & it looked awesome. Tale of Tales (2015) was kind of 17th-c. / fantasy & still had gorgeous period lace like this:

      Tale of Tales

  2. The thing that gets me the most about those items is that they were actually functional, not just pretty-pretty hand props. Parasols were supposed to protect your complexion, fans were supposed to keep you cool.

    So why would anyone want to make either out of a material with big open areas all over it– as opposed to a solid material that could give you full shade or move air more efficiently?

    1. Well, conspicuous consumption plays a part too — accessories can just be pretty, with a vague nod towards functionality if you’re rich & idle. But it was far more common to trim a parasol in lace or cover a parasol in lace over another fabric. There are extant historical lace fans that I didn’t include here, which may have been mostly for looks. But still not made of clunky Battenberg lace!

      1. I’ve also heard that there was some sort of “flirtation” thing with fans at one point, where ladies would gesture with them in certain ways to send various signals to convey availability, interest, etc. to a prospective suitor at a ball or other social event.

        Unfortunately, the first place I ever heard of this was in a NATIONAL LAMPOON humor piece back in the early ’70s, which even featured a little chart of “the language of fans.”

        So, I’ve never been sure if this actually was a real practice or just nonsense a NL writer came up with that somehow took on a life of its own and became an urban legend.

    2. “Parasols were supposed to protect your complexion, …” Yes!

      It drives me absolutely insane to see actors (and reenactors and so-called southern belles in costume) with their parasols propped up and twirling on their shoulders, not providing shade for their faces. I suppose that in films and television, there are some technical issues with not having good lighting on the primary characters in a scene, but please! Protect your delicate complexion, ladies!

  3. And the lace parasol and fans looked real cheap in Maria Theresa and I bet Maria Doyle Kennedy wanted to bash someone with her 20th century one. It just looked wrong. But what can you expect from a series that cast an actor who was totally inappropriate for HVIII? But they did get a good Katherine (wrong hair, but great acting chops) and Anne Boleyn.

  4. One extra point about the fans – the folding fan originated in East Asia and almost certainly didn’t reach England during the reign of Henry VIII – though it may have been a rare import in places like Venice or Lisbon.
    Fans were fashionable in Tudor England, but Catharine should have a fixed hand fan, probably of luxury feathers like ostrich or peacock.

  5. I feel the need to give a shout out to La Cocinera de Castamar. Costuming has some problems (already FrockFlicked), but a fan gets some serious screen time in an episode… plot point kind of thing… and the fan they used was exquisite.

  6. Ooh, ok, so this is another thing I will be spotting from here on out. I do actually use hand fans; I wouldn’t use one with lace because I want MOAR AIR hitting me on a hot/humid day.

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