The Cité de la Dentelle et de la Mode is Calais's museum of lace and fashion, housed in a converted 19th-century lace factory and genuinely one of the better regional museums in northern France. The building itself is part of the attraction — the cast-iron interior columns and large windows are typical of the industrial lace-making architecture that once defined the city.
The permanent collection traces the history of Calais lace from its smuggled origins to its present-day role in the luxury fashion industry. You can watch demonstration looms in operation, examine historical samples from the 19th and early 20th centuries, and follow the trade's global spread. The fashion side of the museum is more hit-and-miss, with temporary exhibitions that range from genuinely fascinating to merely decorative, but the lace history alone justifies the visit.