Early Twentieth-Century Nottingham Lace Curtains: An Ideal Window Furnishing

Abstract

This paper demonstrates the extent to which the lace curtain industry in Britain in the early twentieth century differentiated in the consumer market to produce the ‘ideal window furnishing’ for a range of social groups. It is based on research into three archives of Nottingham lace curtains and illustrated catalogues produced by the manufacturers and sales outlets. The differentiation is manifest in the curtain sizes, styles, patterns and prices aimed at consumers in different social groups and is mediated by advertising in the catalogues and in particular the provision of lace curtain parcels to furnish a variety of homes.