The Louvre Museum is set to open its premier exhibition dedicated to fashion this month.
Celebrating the institutionâs department of decorative artsâ masterworks as well as key pieces chronicling the history of contemporary fashion, the presentation will run from Jan. 24 until July 21.
Titled Louvre Couture, the presentation will feature 71 looks and 30 accessories which align closely with the decorative arts in craftsmanship, style and ornamentation. The purpose, according to a statement from the museum, is to âillustrate the close ties between fashion and art.â Olivier Gabet, the museumâs senior heritage curator and director of the decorative arts department, with assistance from Marie Brimcombe, is responsible for the staging of the exhibition which will be organised into seven historical periods, including the Byzantium epoch and the Middle Ages.
The presentation will feature the work of 45 designers and maisons including designs by Iris van Herpen, Alexander McQueen, Dries Van Noten, Jacquemus and Vivienne Westwood, as well as archival pieces from Loewe, Balenciaga and Mugler.
To celebrate the exhibition, the Louvre will host a gala fundraising dinner, Grand Dîner du Louvre, in partnership with Visa Infinite, to help finance the museumâs activities. The gala event will take place on March 4 to coincide with the beginning of Paris Fashion Week. The gala dinner will take place in Cour Marly inside the museum, with the afterparty beneath the museumâs famed pyramid.
Representatives and designers from fashion houses which have loaned the museum garments for the exhibition are expected to attend the event, which hopes to rival the Anna Wintour-organised Costume Instituteâs Met Gala which takes place in May in New York.
Learn more:
Superfine: Tailoring Black Style is the Metâs Costume Institute Spring 2025 Exhibition
The Costume Institute announced Wednesday that the theme of its Spring exhibition will celebrate the history of menswear through the lens of the Black diaspora.
