Portraits in Lace

Charles Fréger has photographed a series of portraits of Breton women wearing costumes and headdresses of endless variety: from high starched towers to elaborately pinned, tucked and embroidered confections of handmade lace, as delicate as they are distinctive. Costumes and headdresses may indicate a wearer’s village, as well as age or status. They are worn for celebrations of a marriage, birth, or a local saint’s day, or to mark a period of mourning. Young girls, women both married and unmarried, mothers, sisters and grandmothers pose in costume for these wonderful photographic portraits. Over 50 headdresses are introduced and described in a separate reference section, accompanied by specially commissioned illustrations. Fréger’s exceptional photographs demonstrate a wealth of pride and personal expression that make this book a unique testament to a living tradition.