MUSEUM QUALITY: Fashion may be in the doldrums, but it still can draw one helluva crowd. The Louvre’s first fashion exhibition, which wound up its seven-month run on Sunday, welcomed 1.06 million visitors — almost as many as the hit Leonardo da Vinci show in 2019, the most attended show in its history.
According to museum officials, “Louvre Couture: Art and Fashion — Statement Pieces,” fulfilled its mission of attracting a new and younger audience to its extensive collection of decorative arts, which ranges from suits of armor, ceramics, ivories, tapestries and scientific instruments to jewelry, bronzes, stained glass and silverware.
Visitors could use a map to treasure hunt for looks by Jacquemus, Marine Serre, Undercover, Vivienne Westwood, Rick Owens, Loewe, Iris Van Herpen and others scattered across the nearly 100,000 square feet occupied by the department.
The showcase drew literal, oblique and sometimes amusing links between the precious historical objects on display and about 65 contemporary fashion ensembles, plus 35 accessories, installed here and there.
A Yohji Yamamoto look at the Louvre.
Courtesy
“The Louvre is essentially couture. I am delighted that these juxtapositions have touched the public’s heart,” said Olivier Gabet, director of the decorative arts department and curator of the hit show, whose run was extended by a month. He noted all designers and houses agreed to prolong their loans “without hesitation.”
Laurence des Cars, president and director of the Louvre, said the popularity of the show “confirms the value of the intersection of disciplines and perspectives, as well as the Louvre’s contemporary presence as a source of inspiration for all creators.”
“Museums are great mood boards,” Gabet concurred.
To be sure, the fashion exhibition was not mounted for want of visitors: The Louvre attracts nearly 9 million people per year, and management decided in 2022 to cap the number of daily admissions to 30,000.
The museum is currently struggling with dated infrastructure and congestion, and will undergo a multiyear renovation incorporating a separate entrance for its forever main attraction: da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa.”