until Monday July 21 2025

8 Rue Sainte-Anne
75001 Paris
France

Book tickets
https://ticket.louvre.fr/en/billetterie/3313

In consideration of the Louvre’s encyclopedic immensity, this exhibition curated by Olivier Gabet 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 several 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.

The pieces will not be displayed aimlessly throughout the Department of Decorative Arts but rather will serve as an occasion to highlight existing parallels: the department owes part of its collection to the generosity of great fashion figures, from Jacques Doucet to Madame Carven. These countless connections embrace common methodological ground in the fields of art history and fashion: knowledge of ancestral techniques, visual culture, and the subtle interplay of references, from the catalogue raisonné of the museum to the moodboard of the fashion world. ‘Louvre Couture’ offers a new perspective on decorative arts through the prism of contemporary fashion design.

Photo: Chanel