EXCLUSIVE: First a Fashion Exhibition at the Louvre — Now a Grand Fashion Dinner, Too
NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: The Louvre’s first fashion exhibition, opening to the public on Jan. 24, will be feted in a lavish way on March 4 during Paris Fashion Week, which runs from March 3 to 11 in the French capital.
Called “Le Grand Dîner du Louvre,” the event will celebrate “Louvre Couture: Art and Fashion — Statement Pieces,” which traces how precious objects from Byzantine times through to the Second French Empire have fueled designers’ imaginations up to the present day.
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Modeled somewhat after the Met Gala, the event is a fundraiser, with all profits going to the museum’s activities.
More than 30 tables were put up for auction, and the Louvre revealed that “its fundraising goal of 1 million euros for the opening event has been reached.” It noted that the “biggest houses and foremost designers lending to the exhibition” answered the call.
Visa Infinite is listed as the founding partner of the event and patron of the exhibition.
The evening will start with a reception and visit of the sprawling exhibition, followed by a dinner in the Cour Marly, and finally an after party under the I.M. Pei pyramid.
As reported, the exhibition is to feature around 66 outfits and 30 accessories displayed alongside items from the Louvre’s permanent collection of decorative art objects.
“This is really the first time that the Louvre has decided to create an exhibition about the relationship between fashion and its own collections,” Olivier Gabet, director of the decorative arts department at the Louvre Museum, told WWD last August, when the show was unveiled.
Its goal is to explain “why museums can be interesting and important for fashion designers and how our collections, especially at the Louvre, can nurture and inspire the collections of fashion designers,” according to Gabet.
Looks from the likes of Chanel, Dries Van Noten, Dior, Balenciaga and Yohji Yamamoto are to be installed across the 9,700 square feet that showcase the Louvre’s vast decorative arts holdings, which range from suits of armor, ceramics, ivories, tapestries, scientific instruments, jewelry, bronzes, stained glass and silverware to the lavish Napoleon III apartments.
The showcase is slated to run until July 21.
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