Paris’ Louvre Museum to Stage Its First Fashion Exhibition; Fundraising Gala

The Louvre Museum is set to open its premier exhibition dedicated to fashion this month.

Celebrating the institution’s department of decorative arts’ 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 “illustrate the close ties between fashion and art.” Olivier Gabet, the museum’s 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 museum’s activities. The gala event will take place on March 4 to coincide with the beginning of Paris Fashion Week in the Louvre’s Cour Marly, followed by an afterparty beneath the museum’s famed pyramid.

Representatives and designers from fashion houses which have loaned the museum garments for the exhibition are expected to attend. The event is hoped to grow into a major annual event in the vein of New York’s Anna Wintour-organised Met Gala benefitting the Costume Institute.

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