Limited Edition #430 of 500.  Published by Chene, October 1987.  Hardcover with dustjacket in slipcase.

Condition Notes: Some wrinkling to the paper on the front pastedown (looks like from publishing).  Very clean and tight.  Excellent dustjacket with a hint of shelf wear and toning from age.  The slipcase has moderate wear and is in Good condition with scuffing and rubbing to the side panels, as well as some small indents and light scratches.  The edges have some wear and slight peeling with small cardboard exposure on one corner and a small crack on another.

Provides a brief history of embroidery from prehistory to the late nineteenth century, then delves into Albert and Louis-Marie Lesage taking over in 1924 from an embroiderer who had started with Charles Frederick Worth.  They had their beginnings supplying Madeleine Vionnet and Elsa Schiaparelli. 

A personal history of Albert and Louis-Marie is retold, followed by the son, Francois, taking over the business after Albert's untimely death.  One by one, Palmer White discloses the workings of this unique embroidery house - from conception to finished runway piece.  He also describes the novel secondary activity Lesage inaugurated: embroidered jewellery and accessories. 

Post WWII, Francois, guided by his mother, learned the trade while working with Christian Dior, Pierre Balmain, Hubert de Givenchy, and others.  By the seventies, he was ready for the young Yves Saint Laurent.  Now the unchallenged Master Embroiderer of the world, he began to supply all the other designers of the eighties: Karl Lagerfeld, Christian Lacroix, Calvin Klein, Carolyne Roehm, etc..

With tributes from the designers, this book is an homage to the House of Lesage hitherto unknown by the general public.