Oh my goodness
Very nice I thought ....... Till I saw this
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When Grand Slam champion Venus Williams stepped onto a French Open court in a see-through black lace dress with a red-trimmed top, the beleaguered lace industry let out a cheer.
Williams' corset-like outfit - reminiscent of a 19th-century Parisian cancan chorus costume - startled many sports fans and prompted wolf whistles and catcalls.
It also intrigued fashion insiders, and lace designers are hoping Williams' bold ensemble might boost their game.
"Seeing a tennis woman of Venus' calibre dolled up in lace and resembling more of a figure skater will hopefully revive the industry at a time when French lace makers are going out of business one after the other," said Isabelle Tartier, director of Paris-based Frank Sorbier, one of the few fashion houses that still uses lace.
Tartier blamed the lace industry's economic woes on cheaper Chinese-industrialised lace flooding the market.
"(It) is rarely made up of 100 per cent cotton like French handmade lace, and is supplemented with chemicals such as polyamide, which produces cheaper thread," she said.
Julien De la Rue, finance director at lace factory Solstiss in northern France, said his company's sales had dropped in the past three years from $45 million in 2006 to $22 million in 2009.
"We've seen a decrease in demand these last two years primarily because lace has gone out of fashion," he said.
"Designers prefer to use leather nowadays, so you simply don't see it on the catwalk."
Williams, who designed the dress and has run her own fashion line, Eleven, since 2007, was quick to pick up on a possible niche market.
Not such a good look
