We have been leading up to a lace filled fall for some time now. Community member, Style...A Work In Progress has been scouring ecommerce land for the best buys and a few delightful remarks such as this quote from Mary Wilson "it is difficult to see why lace should be so expensive, its mostly holes."

We have already established just how this particular material makes so much sense in the here and now so it's interesting to note the trickling appearance of fall deliveries and just how they work with this precious textile. We in particular like the nearly ubiquitous appearance of the practically cliché black lace granny dress. Everyone from Derek Lam to Phillip Lim has one. The dowdy staple brings somehow manages to evoke sexual fetishization and the appearance of frugality, all while suggesting that aren't we naughty for thinking its either. With the pressure to remain practical in a recession that just begs us to remember the precious its going to be an interesting season indeed for lace. Its just too bad the first inklings of the buy are so damn boring. But we are willing to bet its going to sell very well indeed, its so easy to justify the purchase when really its mostly holes anyway.

It's a fetish-friendly time in the fashion industry. Commodities, the material component of capitalism, are the medium by which we understand value. When material commodities become scarce, the capitalist tendency is fetishize their worth (we do this when they are not scarce but the process is exaggerated when things beginning running out. See the 'limited edition' phenomenon in retail for more). We see these tendencies in the textile industry first.

One of the most poignant shows from the Fall 08 season was from Prada. Lace was at the forefront of the collection and it is this textile, fetishized with or without a recession, that stands as an example of how material culture can represent socioeconomic circumstances. Lace is treated as a kind of 'special' textile simply because it is associated with 'special' Western rituals, like weddings and funerals. WWD reported today on the increasing popularity of the textile, seen from Fall 08 and now Resort 09 collections and it is, quite frankly, not a surprise. We like our commodities, we want to keep them, when they begin running out, we exaggerate the remains so that they become exclusive and valuable. Queue lace, ribbons, skins, and fur. Fashion's response to this recession and the upcoming Spring 09 collections should be quite interesting indeed.