The Louvre in Paris is the most visited museum in the world, attracting around nine million visitors every year. Its current exhibition, Louvre Couture, is its first on fashion in 231 years and a must for anyone interested in seeing at close quarters some extraordinary looks by designers from Cristobal Balenciaga to Iris Van Herpen.
The exhibition, which runs until July, places these masterworks of modern fashion – around 100 significant outfits and accessories from 45 houses, dating from the 1960s to 2025 – within the broader context of French decorative arts and history. Visiting this spectacular exhibition is a journey (using the map provided) through the vast 9,000sq m route of the Louvre’s Richelieu wing, twisting and turning through a dizzying array of spaces that range from the intimate to the palatial.
Curated by Olivier Gabet, former director of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs and now director of decorative arts at the Louvre, the concept behind the exhibition is to illustrate the close link between fashion and art, and the inspiration designers draw from the museum’s collections. Christian Dior in 1949 designed an evening gown titled “Musee du Louvre” embodying the Louvre’s enduring appeal for fashion designers. It heralds the entrance to the exhibition.
Among the designers included are Schiaparelli, John Galliano, Alexander McQueen, Chanel, Dior, Yves St Laurent, Charles de Vilmorin, Dries Van Noten, Dolce & Gabbana, Thom Browne and JC de Castelbajac (who designed the liturgical vestments for the restored Notre Dame), just to mention a few. They are displayed in different locations, in front of tapestries, armour, porcelain, jewellery, furniture and other art objects that celebrate the diversity and magnificence of French craftsmanship.
It was a novel and inspired project for newly appointed curator Gabet, whose justification is that fashion is part of today’s popular culture, a major means of artistic expression. He argues that museums can open other perspectives on fashion design. He cites, for example, how a metal bustier over a black dress from Daniel Roseberry’s spring collection 2023 for Schiaparelli brought to his mind reliquaries from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance which are now displayed alongside.
Another dramatic metal dress by Demna for Balenciaga AW 2023 in silver galvanised resin sits beside a 16th century steel suit of armour. Placing couture in such settings allows the viewer to see how the decorative arts connect and influence fashion design, and specifically how designers draw inspiration from works in the Louvre.
Opening the recent Paris Fashion Week, the Louvre also stole a march on the Met in New York, hosting a glamorous gala dinner at the museum, a glossy red-carpet European alternative to what is the most lucrative and most watched philanthropic event of the year. It marked the beginning of a major fundraising effort for the Louvre’s large renovation project, estimated to cost more than €1 billion. Tables of 10 for €50,000 (the Met’s cost $350,000) resulted in the total sum of €1 million raised, according to The New York Times.
Elsewhere in the City of Light there are other interesting fashion exhibitions running at the moment, including one paying tribute to the photographer Peter Lindberg (1944-2019) at the captivating Galerie Dior exhibition space. It displays more than 100 of his fashion shots taken between 1988 and 2018. Born in Leszno in Poland, Lindberg grew up in Duisberg in Germany, studied applied arts and started his own studio in 1973 before moving to Paris where he began working with top fashion magazines.
Lindberg was a trailblazer of the supermodel era with his famous shots for Vogue in the late 1980s. “My key subject was women. Zooming in on them so they can express themselves, affirm their own truth ...” is how he described his work. He never attended fashion shows. See it alongside the Galerie’s exceptional Dior collection of looks, original sketches and exceptional pieces from house archives. Plus, there is an elegant little cafe on the top floor with interesting posters, books, gifts and even chocolates in the shape of thimbles. The exhibition runs until May 4th.
Opening in May at the Grand Palais is the Inventing Haute Couture exhibition on Charles Worth (1825-1895), celebrating the key figure in the history of fashion who was born in the England and founded a fashion house that became the epitome of Parisian luxury. It brings together 400 works – clothing, objects, accessories, paintings and graphics – and will run at the Grand Palais until September 7th.
