Is fashion art? Does it truly belong within the hallowed halls of a museum? At the Musée des Arts Décoratifs (MAD) in Paris, the answer has always been a resounding oui. Tonight, the esteemed institution will officially welcome the global fashion crowd for the glamorous opening of "Look: 40 Years of Fashion at the Museum," a monumental retrospective that features a carefully curated selection of 40 iconic fashion pieces drawn directly from decades of past exhibitions.
Ranging from historic 18th-century French court attire to brand-new contemporary acquisitions—among them a striking Alainpaul ensemble from the designer’s fall 2026 collection, which was specifically inspired by the inner workings of MAD itself—the grand showcase represents just an infinitesimal fraction of a massive archive that runs more than 80,000 pieces deep.
"It’s like a major flashback," curator Sophie Lemahieu commented to press during an exclusive preview of the galleries. The overarching narrative arc of the show, she explained, is designed to cover the complete, complex lifespan of a garment. "It begins inside a designer’s mind, how they share ideas, what happens in the atelier—then how things arrive at a moment of consecration, why they become part of an exhibition and then what goes into preserving and valorizing them."
This deep dive into the museum’s vault brings to light a treasury of rarely displayed objects that chronicle the intricate design process. Visitors will encounter the scaled-down wooden mannequin that Madeleine Vionnet famously used to drape every single one of her revolutionary creations, alongside delicate, tissue paper-lined drawers brimming with bejeweled, sculptural shoes by Roger Vivier. The exhibition also grants intimate access to rare ephemera, such as the magical, feminist mood board meticulously created by Maria Grazia Chiuri for her very first Christian Dior haute couture presentation during the spring 2017 season, and a magpie’s dream of a "mood box" assembled by Josephus Thimister during his creative tenure at Balenciaga in the 2010s, which is delightfully stuffed with raw fabric swatches, accessories, and silvery star sequins.
Moving into the grand central nave of the museum, visitors are immediately greeted by legendary, culture-shifting moments from both the runway and pop culture history. Among these centerpieces are a breathtaking haute couture black and gold kimono ensemble designed by John Galliano for Dior for the spring 1998 collection, and the cheek-grazing, deeply daring backless black velvet dress by Guy Laroche that famously scandalized audiences when actress Mireille Darc wore it onscreen in 1972.
The exhibition weaves together seminal, genre-defining creations by some of the most influential designers in fashion history. Works by Thierry Mugler, Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Dior, Hubert de Givenchy, Alexander McQueen, Christian Lacroix, Helmut Lang, Hussein Chalayan, Iris van Herpen, Valentino, Nicolas Ghesquière, Paco Rabanne, Rei Kawakubo, and Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel mingle effortlessly with pieces that were worn to memorable, historic effect in the public eye. Highlights include a dramatic quilted satin corset and ruffled leg design by Jean Paul Gaultier and a sculptural black ruffled mini-dress from Alexandre Vauthier’s spring 2020 couture collection that was famously worn by Rihanna to the ultra-exclusive Oscars after-party hosted by Beyoncé and Jay-Z. A breathtaking closeup of a dramatic pink cape and gown by Valentino—a magnificent millefeuille confection crafted from silk organza, crepe, and silk from the designer’s haute couture fall 2007 collection, originally seen in his 45th-anniversary exhibition—takes a starring role on the official poster for this retrospective.
Yet, the exhibition deliberately avoids focusing solely on staged theatrical drama and haute couture fantasy. The sophisticated scenography also touches thoughtfully on fashion in its most grassroots and unexpected expressions. Most notably, this includes the original neon yellow safety vest that inadvertently sparked the widespread gilets jaunes uprising in France in 2018. The inclusion nods to the cultural footprint of such objects, recalling when Karl Lagerfeld memorably wore one for a famous road safety campaign tagged with the slogan, "It’s yellow, it’s ugly, it doesn’t go with anything—but it could save a life."
Surrounding these larger-than-life garments, the surrounding galleries offer an immersive look into the mechanics of style. Original sketches, vintage posters, doll-sized mannequins, mood boards, swatch albums, sewing patterns, buttons, intricate embroideries, and raw toiles work together to retrace precisely how fashion is brought to life in the studio and, decades later, meticulously preserved for posterity.
While celebrating 40 years of exhibitions—surpassing more than 70 shows all told in the museum’s history—the retrospective also functions as a vital opportunity to revisit design inspirations that risk being forgotten by contemporary audiences. The sense of cross-pollination across eras is particularly striking when observing how a look from John Galliano’s viral, critically acclaimed Maison Margiela Artisanal couture show for spring 2024 can be traced directly back to a russet fringed silk couture dress presented by Madeleine Vionnet exactly one century prior.
Similarly, the exhibition demonstrates how a 19th-century fabric pattern filters down a century and a half later into a modern ensemble by Dries Van Noten, who artfully reprised both its distinctive tulip motif and the loose, multicolored threads visible on its underside for a pair of coats in his spring 2014 collection. Few fashion enthusiasts today might readily recognize the name Maggy Rouff, yet a 1930s-era waxed silk satin slip dress attributed to her looks so remarkably modern that it could easily have stepped off a runway yesterday.
"That’s the thing about the archives," Lemahieu offered, reflecting on the endless depths of the museum’s holdings. "It’s not just about storage—every time we look at them, we discover something new."
"Look: 40 Years of Fashion at the Museum" will run at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris from September 30, 2026, through April 4, 2027.
