It’s definitely been a Dutch week in Paris with the inauguration of Dutch photographer Viviane Sassen‘s show at MEP and the Iris van Herpen exhibition at MAD by Queen Maxima of the Netherlands and Brigitte Macron. The extraordinary 39 year old fashion designer is known for using avant-garde material to sculpt her dresses, and the show explores the place of … Read More
At Petit Palais, Modernity is the theme
This is the third part of a trilogy started by Christophe Leribault at Petit Palais with “Paris Romantique ” in 2019 and “Paris 1900”, in 2021. “Le Paris de la Modernité, 1905-1925” is a multifaceted show starting with Montmartre and Montparnasse, the beginnings of automobile and aviation, Paul Poiret and Jeanne Lanvin’s fashion, the Théâtre des Champs Elysées and the … Read More
A book on Fashion in the paintings of the Louvre, what a great idea!
I met Sabine de la Rochefoucauld years ago when she was the VIP guide at Versailles, and Harold Pinter and Antonia Fraser who was writing on Marie Antoinette, raved about her. She has now been for many years at the Louvre as chief of Protocol for royalties and stars, but still organizes visits for normal people. One of her cherished … Read More
Azzedine Alaïa as a collector, at Palais Galliera
You all have heard of Azzedine Alaïa, the genius couturier who sadly left us too soon in 2017. But what I did not know before I visited the new show at Palais Galleria, “Azzedine Alaïa, couturier collector”, is that he collected 20 000 costumes from all periods and spent his time and money restoring them and preserving this unique French … Read More
“I can paint for a living”, at Musee Fragonard in Grasse.
In their introduction to the catalog of “I declare that I can paint for a living” exhibition in Grasse, Anne, Agnès and Francoise Costa, the owners of the Fragonard perfume company, pay a tribute to the curator, the formidable Carole Blumenfeld, 43, who discovered a painting by Marie Victoire Lemoine, 1754-1820, in the « purgatory » at the Louvre while … Read More
The news of the summer is at Hotel de Mercy-Argenteau
You will have to wait until October 6 to discover this new hub of artistic pleasures, but it looks like “L’Ecole des Arts joailliers” (Jewelry school), sponsored by Van Cleef & Arpels, is bound to become the place where to be seen, this fall. The Hotel de Marcy-Argenteau at 16 bis bd Montmartre, between musée Grévin and Hotel Drouot, was … Read More
An ideal outdoor cantina and a nostalgic show at the Saint Laurent museum
I went to see the new Yves Saint Laurent show on “Shapes” which reminded me of the glorious years when anyone could buy a Saint Laurent ready-to-wear outfit because they were cheap. The premises of the Foundation, decorated by Jacques Grange, are elegant and simple but not functional. The rooms are small and on three levels. The whole space will … Read More
At Palais Galliera, fashion autochromes are fabulous
The main exhibition at Palais Galliera, is called “Fashion on the Move” (Until Sept 7) and it is a complicated labyrinth of how fashion evolved with sportswear and automobiles. How the corseted dress disappeared at the beginning of the XX th century and let Jeanne Lanvin‘s sensuous silhouettes replace it. I was very amused by short films shot on the … Read More