2-969-941 - /Heritage Images

The Layette, or Outfit for the Imperial Infant, 1856. Paris: view of '...the Show-rooms of Mademoiselle Felicie, in the Rue Vivienne, where the layette...was on view...all the tables along the sides, as well as an exceedingly broad one down the centre, were completely covered with the most beautiful articles of lace, embroidery, silk, satin, and cambric that perhaps were ever collected together for any one child. Of dresses alone there were no less than twelve dozen. All were embroidered with such rare perfection as to rank as works of art, and the vast quantity of point d'Alençon [Alençon lace] with which they were trimmed must have been of immense value. Along the tables are also to be seen babies' caps, hats, and head-dresses in such abundance as to excite one's wonder, and of these also twelve dozen were prepared-all beautifully embroidered, and all trimmed with the most costly lace'. From "Illustrated London News", 1856.