The Louvre has long been an elegant backdrop for the fashion world. Think of that mod icon Anna Karina sprinting through its halls in Godard’s Bande à Part, or a crimson-clad Audrey Hepburn joyfully descending the Daru staircase in Funny Face. More recently, the Louvre has embraced the role of fashion host, inviting the likes of Ferragamo and Louis Vuitton onto its grounds. Once a palace, the museum is now the site of Fashion Weeks past and future.
With “Louvre Couture. Art and Fashion: Statement Pieces,” an exhibition that opened yesterday in the Decorative Arts Department, the museum is no longer just a stylish setting but an actor in fashion history. Indeed, many have wondered, given the success of fashion exhibitions around the globe, why the Louvre has held itself apart for so long. One must remember that unlike the Metropolitan Museum or the Victoria and Albert Museum, and despite galleries overflowing with historic textiles and representations of dress, the Louvre does not have a costume department. This exhibition, the first on fashion curated by the Louvre, stages dynamic encounters between dress and art, while exploring the role of art history in the designer’s creative process.
