The Louvre's Department of Decorative Arts stages a fascinating exhibition setting objects from the museum's collection, from Byzantium and the early Middle Ages to the Second Empire, beside more than a hundred fashion looks and accessories…

The works have been lent from the archives of more than 45 fashion houses from France and elsewhere: Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Fendi, Chanel, Schiaparelli, Alaïa, Prada, Paco Rabanne, Balenciaga, Louboutin, Balmain, Yohji Yamamoto and many others.

The central idea of the exhibition is the bond between fashion and art. It could hardly be shown better than by setting couture garments beside their sources of inspiration and historical parallels. What, after all, if not a museum collection, could serve designers as a treasury of inspiration, and we see fashion quite literally blossom the more as it draws nearer to its inexhaustible wellspring.

The exhibition opened only recently, during Paris Haute Couture Week, and will run until mid-July. The fashion looks are integrated into the display cases and surrounded by genuine exhibits of various periods, with witty allusions to the Renaissance, Marie Antoinette and Napoleon III, whose fully furnished apartments have likewise become part of the display.

The looks are chosen so precisely to suit the museum setting and the historical exhibits that, if one did not know of the exhibition and did not read the captions, many a fashionable ensemble might be taken for an original of the period, or for the gown of some court lady. Indeed, many of the objects and collections were either dedicated directly to the Louvre or created on the basis of artefacts from the histories of fashion houses associated with the Louvre's holdings. Looking at the golden satin coat by Carven (2 photos) from the spring/summer 2025 collection, for example, I was certain that it had been inspired by the jacket with dropped shoulders fashionable in the second half of the 18th century, in which Catherine II is portrayed in her famous portrait.

Photos in order: Rick Owens ready-to-wear spring/summer 2020, Carven 2025, Cristóbal Balenciaga 1960s, Thom Browne 2020, myself in Margiela and WOS, Thom Browne again, Balenciaga armour, Fendi autumn/winter 2019-20 haute couture, Mugler autumn/winter 1995-96