It poured the entire Friday March 8 and the high was only 6C. Most miserable weather day of our trip. Luckily, we knew the bad weather was coming and planned for it. We took the Metro (our extra tickets from our last visit in 2019 were still good) to visit the Palais Galliera, Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris (City of Paris Fashion Museum.) The Musée had been undergoing renovations for a number of years so this was our first visit back in quite a while.
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Outside entrance
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| In the courtyard of the beautiful stone renaissance Palais Galliera |
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| Another view |
There were two exhibits. The first one we saw was entitled:
Love Brings Love, which recreated the tribute fashion show that took place on October 5, 2021 following the death of Alber Elbaz from COVID-19 (1961- 2021).
Alber Elbaz was born in Casablanca, Morocco in 1961. The following year his family moved to Tel Aviv. After graduating with a degree in fashion design in Isreal and his compulsory three-year military service, Elbaz moved to New York. He became Geoffrey Beene's right-hand man and worked for him for 7 years, starting in 1989. He also did stints at Guy Laroche and Yves Saint Laurent. He was the creative director of Lanvin in Paris from 2001-2015.
Elbaz founded the Richemont-backed (Switzerland based luxury goods holding company) label AZ Factory in 2019 (named after the first initial of his first name and the last initial of his last name.).
AZ Factory is a women's ready-to-wear house rooted in innovation and respect for the female body. Elbaz passed away on April 24, 2021, shortly after the launch of his first collection.
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| Poster for show |
Following Elbaz's passing, AZ Factory organised a show in his honour with 46 participating fashion houses and designers brought together to create looks inspired by Elbaz. The exhibit recreates the show by immersing visitors in the full runway experience, reproducing the order on the runway, the effects, music and lights. The
Love Brings Love title, was one of Elbaz's mantras. Each dress was accompanied by a plaque with a quote from the designer remembering Elbaz.
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| Alaïa, Pieter Mulier |
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| Alexander McQueen, Sarah Burton |
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| Iris Van Herpen x Adobe (front dress) and Guo Pei (back) |
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| Giorgio Armani |
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| Dries Van Noten & Stephen Jones |
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| Example of plaque that was beside each dress in the exhibit |
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| Christian Dior, Maria Grazia Churi and Comme des Garçons, Rei Kawakubo |
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| Balenciaga, Dema |
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| Balmain, Olivier Rousteing (left) |
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| Lanvin, Bruno Sialelli |
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| Valentino, Pierpaolo Piccioli |
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| AZ Factory |
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| Saint Laurent, Anthony Vaccarello |
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| Simone Rocha |
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| Louis Vuitton, Nicolas Ghesquière on left |
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Off-White, Virgil Abloh
There was a separate room with photos taken by Steven Meisel for various Lanvin campaigns during Elbaz's tenure there. In 2008, Elbaz designed an emblematic dress inspired by spinnakers- it is cut from a chameuse so light that it swells with the slightest breeze.
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2008 Dress for Lanvin
There was a room with photos, illustrations and other documents from Elbaz's career.
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| Preparing invitations |
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| Drawings |
The second exhibit we saw was the second part of an exhibition that celebrated the opening of the Museum's new galleries. It is entitled:
A History of Fashion. Collecting and Exhibiting at the Palais Galliera. It traces the history of the Palais Galliera and its collections from the 18th century to the present day. Over 350 items, including garments, accessories, graphic arts and photographs from the collections were presented in the two separate displays (October 2, 2011-June 26, 2022).
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| Poster for the Exhibit |
The exhibit was very comprehensive and there was a lot of explanatory text with each item. I have just put a small sampling in the blog. From 1920, on the occasion of the founding donation of its collection to the City of Paris, the Société de l'Histoire de Costume, called for the creation of a museum that would permanently present its collection. It was first kept at the Musée Carnavalet and then transferred to the Palais Galliera in 1977, which held temporary thematic exhibitions. New rooms have significantly enlarged the exhibition space which enables the collections to be displayed in different ways and with different themes.
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| The 18th century |
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| Waistcoasts for the men of the Enlightenment- 18th and 19th centuries |
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| The corset- started flexible and then got tighter and then disappeared (though it might be back ) |
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| Formal Dress, Madame Lasserre, circa 1883- amazing details |
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| Dress and Bustle, circa 1872 |
From 1875-1885, the Visite was in fashion for women, a compromise between a clock and a coat. After 1890, it disappears from women's wardrobes and will never be back in favour.
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| An example of the Visite-- very elaborate |
One of the masterpieces of the collection is a Maison Worth dress, circa 1896, that was worn by the Countess Greffulhe. The lily was the emblem of the Countess. It was acquired by the museum in 1964. The dress was immortalized due to the photograph by Paul Nadar in 1896. The Countess Greffulhe (1860-1952) was the inspiration for Marcel Proust's character, the Duchess of Guermantes. We saw the photo in the Proust exhibit at the Carnavalet earlier this week.
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| The dress |
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| Photo by Paul Nadar--- from Proust show |
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| Christian Dior by YSL "Zephyrean" cocktail dress, Haute Couture, Autumn-Winter, 1958-59 |
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| Another photo from the back |
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| Ann Demeulemeester, Long Dress, Ready-to-Wear, Spring-Summer 1991 |
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| Martin Margiela, Pair of Tabi, Ready-to-Wear, Spring-Summer 1989, transformed in 1991 |
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| One of my favourites- Yohji Yamamoto, Short Dress, Ready-to-Wear, Autumn-Winter 1990-1991 |
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| Alexander McQueen, Dress, Ready-to-Wear, Spring- Summer 2010 from his last collection Plato's Atlantis and Lanvin by Alber Elbaz, Short Dress, Ready-to-Wear, Autumn-Winter 2011-2012 |
There was a beautiful dress by Azzedine Alaïa, from his last haute couture collection presented a few months before his death in November, 2018.
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| Azzedine Alaïa, Evening Dress and Belt, Haute Couture, Autumn-Winter 2017-2018 |
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| Comme des Garçons by Rei Kawakubo, Spring-Summer 2019 |
There was a separate room filled with illustrations and accessories.
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Georges LePaoe, Les Choses de Paul Poiret Vues Par Georges Lepape,
Plate #11, "The Cage", 1911 |
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| René Bouêt-Willaumez Beach Ensemble- illustration for American Vogue, July 15, 1939 |
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| Willy Maywald, Suit, Hat, Gloves and Jewellery by Jacques Fath, 1950 |
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| Claw evening gloves- art meets fashion, Elsa Schiaparelli (1890-1973) |
in collaboration with Salvador Dali (1904-1989), 1936
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| Elsa Schiaparelli, in collaboration with Salvador Dali, Gala Dali's Shoe-Hat, Winter 1937-38 |
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| Sonia Delaunay Jacket, 1928 |
We really enjoyed our visit to the Fashion Museum. The Elbaz tribute exhibit was very innovative and featured some of the top designers presently working in fashion. The pieces really captured the design elements that Elbaz had featured in his work. The History exhibit was a bit overwhelming but it showcased the amazing collection of the Museum its history and the amazing conservation work that needs to be done to preserve the collection. The Museum also celebrates the importance of fashion to the culture and identity of Paris.
As it was still pouring outside, we decided to have a late lunch near the Museum. There were two cafés nearby-- one was highly recommended to us.
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| Flower shop across from the Palais Galliera |
Our choice was Le Galliera just across from the Museum.
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| Outside Le Galliera |
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| Photo in restaurant was taken in front of the Cafe Tripoli in Martina Franca, Italy, where we had coffee during our Puglia trip in October 2021. The copy of this picture is signed in the café. Very small world. |
Alain had a vegetable soup and we shared a warm goat salad with grapes and walnuts. The place was buzzing with folks coming for apèro hour as we were leaving.
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| Soup and warm goat salad |
La Pâtisserie Cyril Lignac was two doors down from the restaurant. Lots of Easter treats including a rabbit called "Doudou". I later looked up the bakery on-line. Cyril Lignac is a French chef who is the owner and chef of two restaurants. He opened a second pâtisserie in this location in 2013. He also has appeared in a number of cooking shows. Lignac has published about 40 cookbooks!!
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| Rabbits in the window |
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| Chocolates |
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| Beautiful bakery and lots of customers |
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| "Doudous" |
We took the Metro back to the apartment and rested up before dinner. Alain made a fish dinner with potatoes and green beans. We had some more of our red wine and finished with an apple dessert we had picked up the other day from Sacha's on Rue des Rosiers.
We are hoping the rain will taper off on Saturday. The temperatures are due to warm up by Monday. We still have a lot of exploring to do!!
We saw the highlights of the Jay's comeback opener! Go Jays Go! Raptors too!!
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