Bridal gowns assumed a more traditional guise, with long sleeves and classic A-line skirts.

In a historic move, four major lingerie players including Etam and La Perla have come together to save one of the last remaining Calais lacemakers from bankruptcy.

The trademark was created a year ago to protect lace manufactured on Leavers looms in the French towns of Calais and Caudry.

The beleaguered family-owned firm, the number-one producer of Calais Lace, has filed for the equivalent of Chapter 11.

One of three remaining firms making lace in Calais, Desseilles has been granted three weeks before it is liquidated by the commercial tribunal in Boulogne-sur-Mer.

The French may have invented the notion, but designers embraced individual freedom of expression for fall by doing whatever they wanted with lace.