the lace cord, version nine

we tried eight cords before we got the ninth one right.

the problem was simple. a woman tightening her own dress, alone in a hotel room, with no one to help, needs the cord to do three things at once. it needs to slide smoothly through the grommets without catching. it needs to hold its position once tightened — no slipping mid-evening. and it needs to feel substantial in the hand, like something you can pull with confidence, not like a shoelace.

the first cord was too soft. the second too stiff. the third frayed at the grommet edges after three wears. by the fifth we were braiding our own samples by hand. by the seventh we were talking to a sailmaker in maine about the cord he uses on small racing boats. by the ninth we had it.

version nine is what shipped with the first edition. it is hand-set into the chassis through eighteen grommets, runs the length of the back, and tightens with a single pull. a woman can put the dress on and lace it herself in under a minute.

version ten may not have a cord at all. the next edition is being engineered around a different closure approach entirely. the cord was right for this dress. it may not be right for the next one.

we will write about that when we get there.