If case you were in any doubt, Paris is definitively the world’s capital of fashion, with visitors being able to see:

— the Palais Galliera,
— fashion exhibitions at the Decorative Arts Museum,
— the Yves Saint Laurent Museum,
— the Azzedine Alaia Foundation,
— the Dior Gallery (amazing), and right now
— the Dolce & Gabbana exhibition at the Grand Palais.

Now, there’s one more fashion exhibition, in a space that has never shown fashion before – the Louvre(!), not far from our hotels, with the exhibition Louvre Couture – Art and fashion: statement pieces.

And it’s not a small exhibition – juxtaposing masterpieces from the Louvre’s department of Department of Decorative Arts with fashion pieces chosen from a period between 1960 and 2025, there are over a hundred dresses et creations on show, taking up almost 9,000m² 😃

What an odd idea, to have a fashion exhibition in a museum that has no clothes in its collection (apart from a few sumptuous coats from the order of Saint-Esprit, restored last year).

And yet, perhaps it isn’t: fabric is an important element in of a lot of paintings in the Louvre – in clothes, in the backdrops – and numerous fashion designers, from Cristóbal Balenciaga to Iris van Herpen, have found their inspiration inside the walls of the museum.

This is the starting point for the exhibition Louvre Couture – Art and fashion: statement pieces, with contributions from Karl Lagerfeld, with embroidery directly inspired by the motif on a commode belonging to the museum, Alexander McQueen referencing the drawing on a ceramic piece, Givenchy, Dior, Schiaparelli, Dries Van Noten, Jean Paul Gaultier, Vivienne Westwood, Louboutin…

All, at some point, found their spark of inspiration in a work seen in the Louvre.

The dresses and objects are being show collected into several main themes, without a strict path imposed on the visitor. Feel free to explore as your desire takes you, knowing that one of the strong points will be the end of the presentation, with pieces being shown in Napoleon’s apartments, amazing rooms that many museum visitors skip as they don’t realise how incredible they are.

Linked with the exhibition there are:

— guided visits and workshops (in French, with even more available during the French school holidays),
— a presentation of the exhibition on 10th February at 12.30 and 7pm by its curator (also visible online here),
— a Carte blanche to Loïc Prigent on 7th March à 8pm (not sure what this might be),
— a ‘Fashion Festival’ over the weekend of 22nd & 23rd March, and
— a Night of Fashion on 4th July, with Jordan Roth as special guest.

A catalogue for the exhibition (272 pages, 39.90€) is also available here from your nearest Amazon.

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The exhibition Louvre couture – Art and fashion: statement pieces is at the Louvre (here) from 24th January-21st July 2025

Open every day except Tuesdays from 9am-6pm (9pm Wednesdays and Fridays). Last ticket an hour before closing. Closed 1st May

Admission: 22€

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