Two Paris exhibitions exploring the evolution of fashion

Autumn in Paris looks especially rewarding for fashion enthusiasts, with two new exhibitions opening just days apart. At the end of September, the Palais Galliera and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs will each unveil a new fashion exhibition.

At the Palais Galliera, women take over menswear

Trousers as a political statement? From September 26, the Palais Galliera sheds light on a largely overlooked phenomenon with ‘A Wardrobe of One’s Own. Dissident Femininities in the 19th Century’, an exhibition devoted to the women who, in the 19th century, adopted the codes of menswear to transform not only their appearance but also their place in society.

Conceived as a counterpoint to the often normative portrayals of femininity in fashion exhibitions, the show brings together nearly 500 works. Riding habits, trousers, tailored suits, ties, bows, and top hats bear witness to a time when dress increasingly served to push back the boundaries imposed on women.

The exhibition also accords special prominence to photography, with 150 previously unseen amateur shots assembled for the occasion. These images enter into dialogue with the silhouettes on display and help document sartorial practices long overlooked by traditional histories of fashion.

Among the most notable pieces is Rosa Bonheur’s complete wardrobe, shown here in its entirety for the first time. From Marie Antoinette to George Sand, from the animal painter Rosa Bonheur to Natalie Clifford Barney, the exhibition brings historical figures into conversation with anonymous women, right through to the fashions of Paris’s artistic and lesbian circles around 1900.

Threaded throughout, ‘A Wardrobe of One’s Own’ asks what clothing reveals about identities and social roles, a creative reading of the 19th century which, through the lens of the masculinisation of women’s dress, still resonates with 21st-century debates about dress.

The exhibition will be on display at the Palais Galliera from September 26, 2026 to February 14, 2027.

At the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, 40 years of fashion take shape

Forty silhouettes to narrate 40 years. From September 30, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs marks four decades of the Musée des Arts de la Mode with ‘Look! 40 Years of Fashion at the Museum’, an exhibition that charts how garments moved from the workroom to the shop window, and from collections to exhibitions.

Here, fashion is not conveyed solely through silhouettes. The exhibition also delves into everything that precedes and accompanies them — sketches, patterns, embroidery samples, registered designs, fashion photography, and even runway shows. These traces make it possible to follow the genesis of a piece before it enters the museum’s collections.

The exhibition also opens the doors to the behind-the-scenes work. Conservation, restoration, documentation, packing, and dress mounting — the professions that preserve garments and pass them on to future generations — take centre stage.

The 40 silhouettes gathered in the museum’s nave thus offer a journey through four decades of exhibitions, from “Moments of Fashion” to “Christian Dior, Couturier of Dreams,” via “The Surrealist Worlds of Elsa Schiaparelli,” “Playing with Light,” and “The Mechanics of Underwear.” This selection also illustrates the diversity of perspectives the museum brings to creation, from haute couture to emerging designers.

The exhibition will be on display at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs from September 30, 2026 to April 4, 2027.