‘Lace To Show’ is a large-scale series of exhibitions, which open up the history of lacemaking — starting from the 18th century to present times. The series unites more than 300 items from prominent museums and private collections.
We divided the exposition in seven thematic areas: the origins of lacemaking, its transformation into a craft, triumph of lace in the 19th century fashion, ‘the boudoir’, lace in Soviet fashion houses and in Soviet design of the 60s-80s. The final note is the special project on lace in contemporary fashion.
Every exhibition hall is decorated with ‘architectural’ lace, in accordance with each represented era. For instance, the display cases of the first hall are decorated with traditional plat-bands. Moving on to the 19th century, the embroidered dresses are demonstrated against «lacy» palace facades in St. Petersburg. In the boudoir one can peek in on vintage erotic pictures through keyholes. Soviet fashion houses neighbor three-meter high lace panels. The route ends with contemporary industrial landscape: intricate lace is replaced with simple geometry and minimalism.