Louvre Couture. Art and Fashion: Statement Pieces
I visited this spectacular exhibition several times over the summer. Art and Fashion: Statement Pieces was such a grand experience, the extravagant fashions standing quietly in the splendour of the Louvre. The thoughtful, discreet visual connections between the architecture, furnishings and decorative art displays enticed you to spend longer, to return and see motifs, patterns, colours and textures repeating across mannequins and museum. A pleasing visual rhythm that enhanced my appreciation of both objects of beauty; the fashions and the Louvre.
“The threads weaving their way between the work of great fashion figures and the world of art are almost endless, and the history of art as expressed by the Musée du Louvre, in the depth of its collections and in the ways it reflects the tastes of days gone by, is an equally vast terrain of influences and sources. In consideration of the Louvre’s encyclopaedic immensity, this exhibition follows a methodological approach geared towards exploring the history of decorative styles, art professions and ornamentation through the galleries of the Department of Decorative Arts, where textiles are omnipresent – though generally in tapestries and other décor items rather than in articles of clothing. Over a nearly 9,000-square-metre space, 65 designs are displayed, along with a number of accessories, newly illuminating the close historical dialogue that continues to take place between the world of fashion and the department’s greatest masterpieces, from Byzantium to the Second Empire. Each of these garments and accessories is on special loan from the most iconic fashion houses, both long-standing and recent, in Paris and throughout the world.”
There is of course a gorgeous Exhibition Catalogue and an unmissable behind-the-scenes documentary directed by Loïc Prigent with English subtitles. Fashion designers including Jean-Paul Gaultier, Simon Porte Jacquemus, Maria Grazia Chiuri, Olivier Rousteing and Marine Serre visit the Louvre to see the exhibition and describe how the art has inspired their creativity.
LOUVRE COUTURE! THE ULTIMATE FASHION EXHIBITION EXPLAINED BY THE DESIGNERS!
If you enjoy fashion & textile exhibitions as much as me, then Textile Travels Paris is the guide for you! A digital PDF designed to help you plan your trip to Paris in advance and then easily navigate your way to textile treasures when you arrive in the City of Light. The guide is 21 pages long and organised into sections; Museums & Galleries, Studios & Boutiques, Fabric Stores & Neighbourhoods, Bookstores & Libraries, Interior Fabrics & Passementerie, Flea Markets, Classes, Events & Guided Tours. It includes a custom-made Google Map with all the wonderful listings pinned and colour-coded, making it easier to visualise the city and the distances between the places you want to visit. With 50 listings to choose from, each one includes a description of the delightful textile treasures, the website, street address and an individual link to Google Maps. Woven through the guide, there are links to Haptic and Hue podcasts that unravel fascinating stories of textiles, fashion and craftspeople that have made Paris the capital of luxury fashion and textiles for centuries.