Amazing fashion and jewelry exhibitions in Paris!

Midge

Midge

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I've just come back from a wonderful weekend in Paris to top off the last few weeks which have been a bit too busy (therefore I haven't been posting much here). Anyway, besides the exhibition for which we went to Paris, we've seen two more - and all were absolutely fabulous - I can only recommend them to anybody who's interested in historical/vintage fashion etc.:

Musée d'Orsay: L'impressionisme et la mode (Impressionsm and fashion) http://impressionnisme-mode.musee-orsay.fr/
This was the reason for our trip - sadly , this will only run for another week. But if you have the chance, go and see it! As the Orsay is very popular with Paris visitors anyway, it's best to pre-purchase the ticket and get there early in the morning when they open. The queues in front of the museum this morning were incredible. I'm just glad we went there yesterday evening and were able to buy tickets for today.
The exhibition is huge... really. Lots of big, beautiful paintings, mostly portraits, by all the big names in impressionism, not just from the museum's collection, but also from many great museums like London's National Gallery, the Met in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Philadelphia Museum of Art or the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Montreal. Lots of incredibly famous paintings in one place, and some of my fave of them all (mostly Renoirs, I will admit). Also lots of paintings by Tissot, who painted so many beautifully dressed women with greatest attention to detail. Add to that lots and lots of garments from the Musée Galliera, that tie in with the ones shown in the paintings. Though it says fashion, the main focus is on women's dresses from the 1860s to the 1880s - they make up most of the garments on display. And they're displayed in a way that one can mostly see them from all sides or at least more than just from the front, and get a good look at many amazing details. One of the highlights: the life-size painting of a painter's wife, with the actual dress on display next to it (and it's gorgeous!). There's also a beautiful book to accompany the exhibition.

Musée des Arts Decoratifs: Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry http://www.lesartsdecoratifs.fr/eng...glish-439/exhibitions/current-events#vancleef http://www.lesartsdecoratifs.fr/fra...ns-la-nef/van-cleef-arpels-l-art-de-la-haute/ My mom saw this and thought we could have a peek at this on Saturday afternoon. Ok, it was crazily busy (Sunday afternoon is actually much better!), but it was worth it. Incredible jewelry and also things like cigarette cases, powder compacts and vanities, from the 1920s to the 1970s. Of course there's some pieces also that used to belong to famous people, like Liz Taylor, Grace Kelly or Empress Soraya.

Fashioning Fashion http://www.lesartsdecoratifs.fr/english-439/accueil-710/une-715/english-439/exhibitions/current-events#fashioning
http://www.lesartsdecoratifs.fr/fra...ement-447/fashioning-fashion-deux-siecles-de/
We almost missed this one :BAGUSE:! The jewelry was advertised so prominently, that we almost missed it - I only picked up the brochure when were leaving the musuem yesterday afternoon. So we went in there again today, after the Musée d'Orsay. It was very quiet and we had the wonderful fashion & textile gallery almost to ourselves. The pieces in this exhibition about fashion from 1700 to 1915 are all from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. There's a lot of focus on details, and a beautiful book to go with it too. It was so utterly worth it, as there are some amazing outfits on display - both men's and women's. Each is completely accessorised with shoes, hat or other accessories. Just beautiful! There was so much to discover that I hadn't known before or hadn't seen up close before, and shows how European fashion evolved during these two centuries very beautifully.

Also to come at the same museum is this exhibition: http://www.lesartsdecoratifs.fr/fra...ochainement-446/la-mecanique-des-dessous-une/
The "mechanics" of underwear that shapes the body. As I understand it, this will be all about undergarmenst that shape the body in a particular way, through history, and it mentions that this kind of thing has been known since at least the 14th century. I think this will be well worth another trip to Paris later this year. I've now seen three very different exhibitions in this gallery already, and they have all been amazing, and extremely well presented.
Definitely a good reason to go back to Paris again:), especially as our train connection just has gotten a little faster again, and there's a good new hotel next to the train station (Gare de Lyon), which by the way is home to an iconic restaurant with a lot of history: Le train bleu - it may be expensive, but it's worth every cent, the food is incredibly good, and the decor of the place is just stunning.

Karin
 
I am so jealous! Friends of mine were in Paris about 5 years ago and they couldn't believe there wasn't one exhibition about fashion in the entire city! You hit the motherload!
 
Me too! Je T'aime Paris.

It seems like all my friends do too - there's a constant stream of people telling me about events and making me miss it. It's such a magical city, and even better when there are great exhibitions on. I went there in '92 for an exhibition of early 19th century fashion, sat there happily for hours sketching the dresses and detailing. Took my hubby there for his 30th birthday but that was almost eight years ago - we're way overdue for another visit!

You must love your job, Karin, you get to go to so many interesting places.
 
...and if I hadn't seen that little brochure showing a closeup of an 18th century stomacher, we would probably have missed the other fashion exhibition :BAGUSE:. But that's Paris - you always find something to see even if you didn't do a lot of planning. The nice thing about Paris is that you get around so easily and so fast by metro, and even on a Sunday, they run at the same times then as on normal work days. Thanks to the goings on in Mali, there were a lot of members of the anti-terror forces parading around the city too though. I can't remember seeing them out in view like that.
@Jonathan - Les Arts Decoratifs has a dedicated fashion & textile gallery that seems to have regular exhibitions, as there's no permanent exhibition to occupy it. I don't know how long that has been around though. The first exhibition I saw there must be four or five years ago. The Musée Galliera though only opens for special exhibitions - which is a shame as they must have the most fabulous collection. My mom saw an exhibition on crinoline fashions from the 19th century there. I am still jealous... the book about it is gorgeous.
This was nothing to do with work though - pure pleasure only :). They've now reduced the train time between Zurich and Paris to four hours, so it's definitely an easy weekend trip. Hmmm... and mom tells me there's a fabric printing museum in Mulhouse that would be worth a visit too. Mulhouse is just something over an hour away on the same train line - one more thing I should be doing some time! We certainly saw a lot of dresses from the Galliera that mentioned the printed fabric being from Alsace.
Well, to return the compliment, I'd love to go to Melbourne again, I liked it so much, but it's not in the cards this year either... I have to set my priorities, and see some things that I haven't seen at all so far. And ATE will be in Sydney this year. I'm still hoping for Melbourne for next year - it hasn't been there for some time!

Karin
 
Midge said:
Though it says fashion, the main focus is on women's dresses from the 1860s to the 1880s - they make up most of the garments on display.
Click to expand...

OMG, that sounds like a walk through heaven to me. 1880 is my all-time favorite fashion year. So wish I could attend. Thanks for this interesting post, Karin! (and for the 20 pins I just added to my "Vintage Fantasy" board on Pinterest, LOL)
 
Liza - I know what you mean! Some of the dresses from around 1880 were the most beautiful in that exhibition. The lines were very graceful then. And to be able to see them from all sides and get a good look at the many details was wonderful. It was like my dream come true - an exhibition featuring fashion AND art, including one of my favorite painters (Renoir) and some of his best paintings and generally a lot of stunning paintings.

Amanda - yes. It's even not worth anymore flying from here to Paris. Though I live very near Zurich airport, in Paris it takes so long to get from the airport to the city center, plus you have to count how long before departure your need to be at the airport -before you know it you've spent 4 hours on that journey as well, even though the actual flying time can be as little as 50 minutes depending on the wind. But the train journey takes your from city center to city center. The French national train company SNCF are constantly expanding their fast tracks, so who knows what lies in the future yet! They certainly took the concept of ultra-fast trains up early and have constantly updated trains, tracks etc. Not like others. Munich is half as far away as Paris, but thanks to the German railways doing nothing, still takes more than four hours by train to get there. You're even faster by car. The track after the border through Bavaria makes you think it's like 50 years ago. And now they've just postponed the modernisation of this by several years. Ugh.

Karin
 
Karin, considering the monumentally pathetic rail system here -- prohibitively expensive, incredibly slow, physically uncomfortable, and extremely limited -- the oldest, least-advanced railway in Europe would be a dream come true. For example -- to get from Atlanta, Georgia (where I live) to Savannah, Georgia (on the coast about 4.5 hours drive southeast), not only costs hundreds of dollars, but you must travel via Washington, DC (a 9.5-hour drive almost due north!). Isn't that convenient? LOL... Unfortunately, it's entirely typical. We have ONE semi-high speed railway line, the Metroliner, which I last took with my mom in the late 1970s, I believe. It goes from NYC to DC, and cuts the drive time by about 2 hours, from about 5 to about 3.
 
I know... I've sold quite a few Amtrak tickets during my time in our North America department. Swiss people like taking the train, even just for the experience, when they travel somewhere. I've taken the train from Philadelphia to DC once - nice roomy coaches though - very much appreciated when one has a fairly big suitcase in tow. Stowing this on a TGV train would be a bit of a nightmare :) - slender carriages, not very high, built for speed and lots of seats = room for luggage is a bit thin. Even worse in summer when it gets really crowded and everybody has a fair amount of luggage, and you have to take it all into the carriage. There's no checked luggage like on some trains in the US or Canada. I did enjoy that Amtrak ride though, and the train stations both in Philly and DC are a sight to see! There's nothing quite like that in Europe. Swiss railways aren't cheap either, so the price wasn't that shocking, but I know that from your point of view it must be expensive.

Karin
 
If the convenience matched the price, it wouldn't be so annoying. But it shouldn't take 22 hour to get from here to Savannah, LOL. I agree that train travel is wonderful. In Europe, I loved seeing the towns pass by, and how exciting when the train goes on a ferry (e.g. Scandinavia to Europe). I also love those little compartments, all along a corridor, with 6 seats (3 facing 3), it's own door, windows that open. Just so civilized.
 
I've never been on a train that goes on a ferry - definitely something to try! :) I know which trains you mean - sadly these kind of compartments are on the way out, you find them mostly on older carriages on international trains, but I do remember them from my first trips to Vienna. Especially nice if you're a family and you get one on your own. Windows that open get rare too, but it's still the best thing on a hot summer day!

Karin
 
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