CHANTILLY LACE

lace made at Chantilly, Oise dpartement, north of Paris. Lace was made there from the 17th century, but the silk laces for which Chantilly was famous date from the 18th century. In the 19th century black, white, and blonde (made from silk in its natural colour of beige; see blonde lace) laces were made. By 1840 good machine-made imitations were available; both they and the more expensive handmade kind were fashionable from midcentury, when shawls and even whole mantles of Chantilly were worn with the crinoline. Designs were of naturalistic flowers, ribbons, and the like, often on a spotted background.