On 24 January, the Louvre will open its doors to ‘Louvre Couture’, an exhibition set to offer a “new perspective on decorative arts through the prism of contemporary fashion design”. On 4 March, the world’s most-visited museum will also play host to ‘Le Grand Dîner’, a ritzy fundraising gala taking place on the second night of Paris Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2025. While it will not be the first time that the museum plays host to fashion and pop culture’s A-list (the museum’s courtyard La Cour Carrée is the de facto fashion week home of Louis Vuitton’s womenswear spectacles), comparisons are understandably being made between the debut event and the Met Gala.
The moment feels like a landmark in the bleeding of boundaries between the institutions of fashion and fine art — particularly with respect to their increased commercial interdependence. While, in recent years, significant attention (not least by us) has been paid to the many means by which fashion houses have sought inroads into the comparatively rarified fine art space, the opening of the Louvre’s exhibition brings due focus to the flip side: how fashion became a solid business bet for world-beating museums.
