What Is Lamé?

How is lamé made?

Lamé is made by weaving metallic yarns, as the filling (weft) threads, through a warp of another fibre. Merriam-Webster defines it as a brocaded fabric of various fibres with tinsel filling threads. The name describes that yarn: French lame means a thin metal plate or blade. Unlike sequins, which are stitched on as applied decoration, the shine of lamé is woven into the cloth.

The metallic yarn is what separates one lamé from another. There are two broad families.

Metal-strip lamé

Some lamé is woven with real metal. A 1927 wedding outfit conserved by Historic Royal Palaces is made of gold lamé damask: a fine silk warp with a weft of thin metal strips, each strip wrapped around a twisted silk core. The “gold” fabric was made using copper. The conservator notes that its designer, Elizabeth Handley-Seymour, used lower-cost alloys and laminates to mimic the look of gold and silver.

Foil and film lamé

Modern metallic yarns are manufactured fibres. Britannica describes them as fibres of metal, of metal-coated plastic, or of a core covered by metal, usually aluminium. They are made in two ways:

• Foil types: a metal foil is coated with a plain or coloured plastic film, then cut into strips.
• Metallised types: a polyester film such as Mylar is treated with vaporised metal and bonded between layers of clear film. Colour can be added at this stage.

Lurex, Chromeflex and Melora are trade names for metallic fibres of this kind. Lurex is therefore a brand of yarn, not another word for lamé.

When did lamé become fashionable?

Lamé was in fashion by the 1920s: the Metropolitan Museum of Art notes that it was often used in evening wear of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. The word itself is recent. The Online Etymology Dictionary records lamé in English from 1918, as silk interwoven with metallic threads; Merriam-Webster dates its first known use to 1922.

Two museum pieces show how it was used. The 1927 Historic Royal Palaces outfit is a straight-cut wedding dress with a dropped hip waistline. The Met holds a lamé evening dress of about 1933 by the American designer Jessie Franklin Turner, whose museum record singles out its pristine bias construction and the way it drapes the body.

What are the properties of lamé?

Lamé is reflective, light for its appearance and, in its modern forms, resistant to tarnish. In detail:

• Shine: the Met describes lamé as known for its festive brightness.
• Weight and drape: Britannica notes that metallic fibres are light in weight. The conservator of the 1927 copper-based lamé calls it surprisingly lightweight, with a lovely drape.
• Strength and stretch: metallic yarns made with polyester film are the strongest type and can be stretched considerably.
• Tarnish: modern metallic fibres do not tarnish, according to Britannica. Real metal can: the 1927 outfit showed green tarnishing on its metal threads.
• Pests: Britannica notes that metallic fibres resist attack by insects and micro-organisms.

How is lamé graded?

The useful way to tell lamés apart is the make-up of the metallic yarn. The three types behave differently:

“Gold” or “silver” in a name does not prove the metal: the 1927 “gold” lamé was made using copper.

How does lamé appear on a clothing label?

On a fibre-content label, the metallic yarn in lamé is listed as “Metallic” under US rules and by the name of its material, such as metal, metallic or metallised, in the EU.

United States

16 CFR 303.7 defines “Metallic” as a manufactured fibre of metal, plastic-coated metal, metal-coated plastic, or a core completely covered by metal. The label must give the generic names and percentages by weight of the fibres, the country where the product was processed or manufactured, and the name or registered identification number (RN) of the company responsible. A fibre present at less than 5% of the total fibre weight is listed as “other fiber” rather than by name, unless it has a clearly established functional significance (16 CFR 303.3). Metallic yarn used as ornamentation, which US rules define as fibres or yarns that create a visible pattern or design (16 CFR 303.1(q)), is treated differently:

• If ornamentation is no more than 5% of the total fibre weight, it can be left out of the percentages, provided the label says so, for example “Exclusive of Ornamentation” or “Exclusive of 4% Metallic Ornamentation”.
• If it is more than 5%, it must be included in the fibre percentages.

European Union

Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 names fibres made of other materials by that material, for example “metal (metallic, metallised)”. Visible, isolable fibres that are purely decorative and no more than 7% of the finished product’s weight do not have to be counted in the fibre composition. Metallic fibres added for an antistatic effect, up to 2% of the weight, are also exempt.

So a garment with a metallic pattern whose label lists no metallic fibre is not necessarily mislabelled: its metal yarn may fall within one of these exemptions. An all-over lamé ground, where the metallic yarn forms the cloth rather than a pattern, does not obviously fit the US definition of ornamentation.

How do you tell good lamé from poor lamé?

Good lamé is honestly labelled, made from a metallic yarn suited to the garment, and free of tarnish damage; you can check all three with the garment in your hands.

1. Read the sewn-in label. Look for “Metallic” (US) or “metal”, “metallic” or “metallised” (EU), and the base fibre. On a US label, metallic ornamentation of 5% or less may appear only in an “exclusive of ornamentation” note rather than in the percentages.
2. Look at a loose weft end. Inside the seam allowance, find a cut weft yarn. A strip wound around a fibre core matches the wrapped construction of the 1927 Historic Royal Palaces lamé. A flat ribbon could be a foil or film strip, as Britannica describes, but it could also be metal (the name itself means a thin metal plate), so it is a clue, not proof.
3. Check vintage pieces for green tarnish. Green discolouration on the metal threads, as on the 1927 outfit, shows real metal that has corroded. Modern coated and metallised yarns should not tarnish.
4. Do not judge by weight. The copper-based 1927 lamé is described by its conservator as surprisingly lightweight, so a light cloth is not proof of plastic film.
5. Question “gold” claims. A description of “gold lamé” tells you the colour. Precious metal needs provenance or testing.

Red flags: vintage lamé sold as real gold on the strength of its colour; spreading green tarnish; a label that gives no fibre content at all, which a US label must include.

How do you care for lamé?

Care for lamé by following its care label, ironing at a low temperature, and leaving vintage metal lamé to a textile conservator. Britannica notes that metallic fibres are usually washable, need low temperatures when ironed, and can be dry-cleaned in most common solvents. The base fibre may be more delicate than the metallic yarn, so the care label overrides general advice.

Historic metal lamé is a different matter. To clean the 1927 lamé outfit, Historic Royal Palaces conservators used a thick agar gel with a chelating agent to draw corrosion stains out of the fragile cloth. That is specialist work, not a home wash.

Is lamé sustainable?

Lamé has no single environmental profile, because its impact depends on both its base yarn and its metallic yarn. Metallised yarns use plastic film such as polyester, so a lamé of metallised yarn on a polyester or nylon base is entirely synthetic. The impacts of those materials, including the recycled polyester alternative, are covered in their own entries. Read the label to see what a particular lamé is made of before judging it.