Fashion Forward

Fashion Forward: 3 Centuries of French Fashion

Early into a preview of “Fashion Forward: 3 Centuries of Fashion,” the new exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, chief curator of the exhibit, Pamela Golbin, is explaining how a men’s hunting coat ornamented with metal embroidery circa 1690 would have been the period equivalent of today’s luxe sportswear. By the same token, she compares a robe volante in silk lampas covered with Persian-inspired patterning from around 1725 with the comfy clothes we might slip into for an evening at home—despite the fact it appears more sumptuous than today’s black-tie fare.

Very little of what we wear today, in other words, exists with no relation to the past. Indeed, the exhibition’s starting point rewinds 300 years, for it was during the lustrous reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV that French fashion codes and coherence began to take shape.

And shape as it relates to shifting silhouettes registers among the show’s major takeaways, as the selection of 300 clothing pieces in addition to decorative objects and toys bears witness to trends like a time-lapse anthology of fashion’s greatest hits.

Golbin enlisted Tony Award–winning choreographer Christopher Wheeldon to imbue the faceless mannequins with countless natural gestures so that each vignette appears unaffectedly animated. He also oversaw short videos featuring dancers from the Opéra de Paris who bring life to various eras and key designs.

photos courtesy of Pamela Golbin

Creative Team

Choreographer
Christopher Wheeldon