In Lace Catalog [updated]: Secrets

To get the most out of the Secrets in Lace catalog:

A woman attending a ball could glance at a rival’s lace trim and know exactly how recent the family tragedy was—a secret social scorecard woven into fashion. Catalogs never explained this; it was assumed knowledge passed between dressmakers. secrets in lace catalog

That missing page was the —the proprietary design made for a single couture house (Worth, Doucet, Paquin). No two copies of the catalog included that page. It was printed on special stock and handed only to the buyer. When the season ended, the manufacturer’s own employees had to cut the page out of the archive to prevent the design from being reused. To get the most out of the Secrets