The Louvre Couture: Art and fashion—statement pieces exhibition exemplifies how museums like the Louvre not only preserve human history but also inspire the future. This captivating showcase invites visitors on a journey through fashion and art, reflecting how the past shapes contemporary fashion design.
Exploring a Dialogue Between Fashion and Decorative Arts
The exhibition aims to create connections between the Louvre’s decorative arts collection and iconic fashion pieces from world-renowned designers such as Cristóbal Balenciaga and Iris van Herpen, spanning the period from 1960 to 2025. By investigating the shared inspirations and historical roots of art and fashion, it highlights how the Louvre’s collection—ranging from ancient reliefs to 18th-century paintings—has influenced the fashion world.
Debuting Rare Creations
Spanning a vast 9,000-square-meter space, the exhibition features 65 garments and 30 fashion accessories, exhibited in dialogue with artistic objects from the Byzantine Empire to the Second French Empire. Pieces such as Karl Lagerfeld’s creations for Chanel, along with designs by Yohji Yamamoto and Dolce & Gabbana, interact with tapestries, gold and silver artifacts, and even the armor of Henry IV. Many of the 45 fashion houses and designers’ contributions are being presented to the public for the first time.
The exhibition design, overseen by Nathalie Crinière, known for her work at the Decorative Arts Museum and the Dior Gallery, emphasizes the interplay between fashion creations and art pieces through visual and lighting effects. Visitors can explore the exhibition’s thematic structure freely, following several main chronological narratives.
A First for the Louvre
Curator Olivier Gabet describes the inspiration behind the exhibition: “Fashion becomes even more fascinating when shown in relation to other fields. When you talk to a stylist, of course they discuss fashion, but they also talk about art, craftsmanship, and photography. It’s a significant shift. Fashion today is reassessing itself in relation to other creative domains.”
This exhibition marks a first for the Louvre. While the museum has hosted various fashion-related events in the past, this is its first exhibition solely dedicated to fashion. Opening on January 25, 2025, at the Louvre Museum in Paris, Louvre Couture: Art and fashion—statement pieces will run until July 21, 2025.
