Garden of Lace: Carine Gilson, Karen van Godtsenhoven and Caroline Esgain

In this book, the world of haute lingerie is revealed as a garden of exquisite craftsmanship where silk and lace are cultivated with the same meditative devotion as fibre arts of old. This volume is the first full-length monograph on Belgian designer Carine Gilson, whose couture lingerie has become synonymous with refined sensuality, technical finesse and poetic inspiration drawn from birds of paradise, exotic flowers, the Garden of Eden, Art Nouveau and ballet aesthetics. Rather than a catalogue of pretty images, the book reads like an atelier journal — exploring how Chantilly lace from Calais, silk from Lyon and hand-stitching in her Brussels workshop are transformed into pieces that feel both intensely intimate and strikingly artful.

For the textile-attuned reader, this book invites slow-looking: close study of delicate lace motifs, the layering of silk and tulle, the way thread and hand interact to create surfaces of light and shadow. Through richly photographed spreads and insightful commentary, the reader encounters not only finished designs but also the inspirations, sketches and atelier processes that animate Gilson’s three-decade-strong couture practice. The result is a piece of design history that sits comfortably beside fashion and textile monographs, celebrating cloth as culture, craft and couture.

About the Author
Karen Van Godtsenhoven is a curator and writer with deep engagement in fashion and costume history; she brings scholarly perspective and narrative shape to this intimate portrait of a contemporary artisan.

Caroline Esgain collaborates closely in framing Gilson’s work, helping connect studio practice with broader design discourse. Together they situate Garden of Lace not simply as a fashion book, but as a material-culture exploration of how lace and silk carry meaning, identity and aesthetic lineage.

Publication date: 2020
Publisher: Lannoo Publishers / ACC Art Books
Pages: 192
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN: 9789401464703