Is fashion Art? Does it belong in a museum? At the MAD in Paris, the answer is a resounding

oui.

Tonight, the Musée des Arts décoratifs will welcome the fashion crowd for the opening of “Look: 40 years of Fashion at the Museum,” featuring a 40-strong selection of fashions culled from exhibitions past. Ranging from 18th century French court attire to recent acquisitions—among them an Alainpaul ensemble from the designer’s fall 2026 collection, and inspired by the MAD’s inner workings—the showcase represents just an infinitesimal fraction of holdings that run more than 80,000 pieces deep.

“It’s like a major flashback,” curator Sophie Lemahieu commented during a preview. The show’s arc, she explained, covers the 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.”

Among the rarely displayed treasures: the scaled-down wooden mannequin Madeleine Vionnet used to drape every creation; tissue paper-lined drawers brimming with bejeweled shoes by Roger Vivier, and ephemera such as the magical, feminist mood board created by Maria Grazia Chiuri for her very first Christian Dior haute couture show (spring 2017), or a magpie’s dream of a “mood box” assembled by Josephus Thimister during his tenure at Balenciaga in the 2010s, stuffed with fabric, accessories, and silvery star sequins.

In the central nave, the visitor is greeted by iconic moments from the runway and pop culture, for example a haute couture black and gold kimono ensemble by John Galliano for Dior (spring 1998), and the cheek-grazing backless black velvet dress by Guy Laroche that scandalized when actress Mireille Darc wore it onscreen in 1972.

Seminal creations 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 with pieces worn to memorable effect, among them a quilted satin corset and ruffled leg design by Jean Paul Gaultier or a sculptural black ruffled mini-dress from Alexandre Vauthier’s spring 2020 couture collection that Rihanna wore to the Oscars after-party hosted by Beyoncé and Jay-Z. A closeup of a dramatic pink cape and gown by Valentino, a millefeuille confection in silk organza, crepe and silk (haute couture fall 2007), from the designer’s 45th anniversary exhibition, stars on the poster for this show.

But it’s not all staged drama here: the scenography also touches on fashion in its most

grassroots expressions—notably the original neon yellow safety vest that sparked the gilets

jaunes uprising of 2018 (Lagerfeld wore one for a road safety campaign taglined “it’s yellow,

it’s ugly, it doesn’t go with anything—but it could save a life”). In the surrounding galleries,

sketches, posters, doll-sized mannequins, mood boards, swatch albums, patterns, buttons,

embroideries, and toiles retrace how fashion is made and, later, preserved for posterity.

And while 40 years of exhibitions—more than 70 all told—gives some pieces another encore, it’s also an opportunity to revisit inspirations that are all but forgotten. The sense of cross-pollination is particularly striking when you realize, for example, how a look from Galliano’s viral Maison Margiela Artisanal couture show of spring 2024 can be traced directly back to a russet fringed silk couture dress presented by Vionnet exactly 100 years ago.

Or how a 19th century fabric filters down a century and a half later to an ensemble by Dries Van Noten, who reprised both its tulip motif and the loose, multicolored threads on its underside on a pair of coats (spring 2014). Few today could place Maggy Rouff, but a 1930s-era waxed silk satin slip dress attributed to her looks

like it could have stepped off a runway yesterday. “That’s the thing about the archives,” offered Lemahieu. “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 from September 30, 2026 through April 4, 2027.