City of Paris Museum of Fashion

The City of Paris Museum of Fashion (Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris) exhibits French fashion and costume design dating from the eighteenth century to the present day out of a permanent collection totaling approximately 70,000 rare and historic items. The museum presents temporary exhibitions exclusively due to the fragility of the textiles in the permanent collection which prevents them from being exposed to light over extended periods of time.

The collection is divided into nine departments including pre-nineteenth century, nineteenth century, first half of the twentieth century, haute couture, contemporary, accessories, undergarments, drawings and prints and photography. The curatorial calendar is diverse with selections from a variety of departments presented in rotation throughout the year.

Highlights of the museum holdings include a comprehensive collection of eighteenth-century dresses and theater costumes, extremely rare and elaborate seventeenth century menswear pieces, reminders of France’s royal past including garments that belonged to Marie Antoinette and most famously more than 7,000 haute couture items attributed to some thirty individual couturiers including Alaïa, Balenciaga, Balmain, Cardin, Chanel, Courrèges, Dior, Galliano, Grès, Lacroix, Mugler, Rabanne and Saint Laurent. The most abundant, representative and exhaustive collection of its kind in the world, the contents provide a graphic illustration of the craftsmanship, creativity and evolution of French fashion and how often it has captured, fueled and reflected the collective imagination.

The museum is housed within the Palais Galliera, a superbly restored, Belle Epoque landmark completed in 1894, located directly across from the Palais de Tokyo in the 16th arrondissement. Modeled on a Genovese palace, the interior features intricate mosaic floors and domes by Giandomenico Facchina while the exterior cut stone facade supports the statues, “Painting,” by Henri Chapu, “Architecture,” by Jules Thomas and, “Sculpture,” by Peter Cavelier.