The "Louvre Couture" exhibition has recently attracted over one million visitors, becoming the second most visited exhibition in the museum's history after Leonardo da Vinci. Fashion is now establishing itself as a major museum subject, fundamentally changing how cultural institutions engage with contemporary audiences. This remarkable success raises important questions about the growing intersection between high fashion and traditional art spaces.
According to Olivier Gabet, director of the Decorative Arts Museums of Paris, this success illustrates how fashion can dialogue with art history. "Presenting clothing in a place like the Louvre shows that there exists a universal history of creation that transcends clichés," he explains. The exhibition, conceived with support from Laurence des Cars, director of the Louvre Museum, also aimed to make the museum less intimidating and attract new audiences.
The exhibition confronted period rooms - genuine "time capsules" ranging from the 18th century to Ming Dynasty China - with creations from Chanel, Louboutin, and Balenciaga. The curator wanted to "awaken a department that amply deserves it" and weave unprecedented bridges between high classical culture and popular culture. By juxtaposing historical artifacts with contemporary fashion pieces, the exhibition created an entirely new museum experience.
Salomé Dudemaine, a 32-year-old fashion historian, belongs to the first generation of fashion historians trained directly at the École du Louvre in a dedicated specialty. "I grew up with exhibitions at the Museum of Decorative Arts and the Palais Galliera, which finally allowed fashion to be considered as a true scientific subject," she emphasizes, recalling the pioneering role of Olivier Gabet, former director of Decorative Arts and initiator of the "Christian Dior, Couturier of Dreams" exhibition in 2017.
"Louvre Couture," which closed its doors at the end of August, immersed visitors in the Richelieu wing, its salons and period rooms, where furniture, art objects, and contemporary creations responded harmoniously to each other. The exhibition featured Charles de Vilmorin's cut-out dress, Louboutin's studded boots, and a Chanel suit inspired by an antique chest of drawers. "These are not just clothes that we observe as museum pieces, but a true cultural history," insists the historian. Fashion appeared as a mirror of collective imagination, at the crossroads of heritage and creation.
Salomé Dudemaine, co-founder of the fashion magazine Griffé, emphasizes that the popularity of fashion exhibitions stems from their cultural dimension. "Fashion goes beyond the pure object, the garment. Moreover, the object is what we often show in museums to tell the human stories hidden behind," she explains, stressing the importance of going beyond monographs focused solely on creators to include all the people who gravitate around a fashion house.
Olivier Gabet, director of the Department of Art Objects at the Louvre, reminds us that monographs remain essential in art history. "In fashion, it's part of the basic grammar because it's also a way of telling through a particular destiny, a way of projecting oneself into this history," he says. According to him, Paris benefits from unique richness with institutions like the Alaïa Foundation or the Yves Saint Laurent Museum, where "many of these great destinies are embodied in houses that have understood the importance of claiming this historical, artistic heritage and have devoted, for many of them, significant resources to it."
Fashion exhibitions have existed for a long time: "Since the 1920s, the museum already presented fashion, both ancient and contemporary," recalls Olivier Gabet. He emphasizes that these major exhibitions must reconcile the valorization of houses' heritage with respect for museums' scientific rules, while resisting the temptation to become simple advertising showcases. "Fashion talking to fashion is somewhat limited. What's more fascinating is making it resonate with its era and with other domains."
Fashion has always been present and observed through art and collections. "Artists have shown me their ability to transcribe materials and clothing, embroidery, lace in a very realistic way," explains Salomé Dudemaine, evoking 15th-century painting. At the beginning of the 20th century, Maurice Leloir constituted historical collections that laid the foundations for fashion museums. In the 1970s, Diana Vreeland, patron of Vogue in the United States, "really made fashion this space that welcomes arts, trends, and society's evolutions."
This cultural revolution in museums reflects a broader shift in how society views fashion - not merely as commercial products or fleeting trends, but as significant cultural artifacts that deserve scholarly attention and preservation. The success of exhibitions like "Louvre Couture" demonstrates that audiences are hungry for this deeper understanding of fashion's role in human expression and cultural history, bridging the gap between luxury goods and legitimate artistic discourse.
