needle lace made in the French city of Alençon, one of the centres designated by Jean-Baptiste Colbert (Colbert, Jean-Baptiste), minister of finance under Louis XIV, for aid in his effort to make French laces financially and artistically competitive with imported laces. Venetian workers, experts in making point de Venise, were brought in to instruct the local needlewomen, who quickly learned the technique and, by the end of the Royal Monopoly (see point de France), were evolving a distinctive lace. Alençon lace is characterized by a cordonnet usually made over horsehair, a firm needle mesh of double twisted threads, and many and varied filling stitches within floral and scroll patterns.