Oh, and There Are Clothes Here Too!

I was banging my head on my desk at my summer internship last July when I heard about the Madeleine Vionnet exhibition at my favorite fashion museum in the world, Musée de la Mode et du Textile, part of the Louvre's Musée des Arts Décoratifs. Designers such as Marc Jacobs and Jean-Paul Gaultier were flocking to see the rare and legendary dresses, making it near impossible for mere mortals to get in between irregular opening hours and crowds. Fortunately, the show was extended until this weekend due to its immense popularity— so no need for that meltdown afterall.

When I went the other day, the museum was STILL, if you can believe it, more packed than I have ever seen it, even more so than when they did Balenciaga and Valentino retrospectives. I love France for this. I guarantee you almost no one outside of this country has ever heard of Vionnet (excepting, maybe, the insulting current line that surely causes pauvre Mme Vionnet to spin 360's in her grave) despite the fact that it is arguably one of the most influential fashion houses in history. Let us take a moment to thank her for the bias-cut and her minimalist, modern take on clothing that is still with us today. Merci bien!

Going through the exhibit, I really was shocked at how current many of the pieces still are. And not just current, but seriously ahead of what many designers are doing now. There was something very Japanese about her aesthetic in the way that large, geometric cuts of fabric were placed and twisted together to make deceptive simplicity. Mme Vionnet, may I present you to Yohji Yamamoto?

Fancy schmancy videos digitally showed you how many of the gowns were made and played vintage atelier photos with models in the garments to demonstrate how they work on a human form. The Costume Institute should have this... It should also, incidentally, not be shut down all the time.

I tried to photograph the exhibit, as the only thing I like more than food porn is clothing porn. Truly, I get alarmingly worked up over looking at pictures of hats. It's my guilty pleasure. But photography is expressively forbidden and as I learned last time I was there, they are not kidding. I was definitely going to sneak a few but the guard who threatened to throw me out of the Valentino exhibit for "persisting" was there again and I got really scared. As a result, all of these photos are stolen from the museum's website AND I'M NOT SAYING SORRY.