Two centuries of fashion, not a retrospective
What made this show at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris special wasn’t just bringing Louis Vuitton and Marc Jacobs together under one roof, but how it did so: instead of a conventional chronological retrospective, curator Pamela Golbin set up a parallel comparison between two historical moments in the fashion system. On the first floor, Vuitton’s trunks sit alongside nineteenth-century fashion pieces and accessories from the museum’s own collection, representing the industrialization of the late 19th century. On the second, a selection of the most iconic pieces created by Marc Jacobs in his fifteen years at the helm of the maison illustrates the globalization of the early 21st century.
The staging, by Samantha Gainsbury and Joseph Bennett, is itself a lesson in museography as visual merchandising: every room is designed so the object (the trunk, the dress) speaks to the craft and era that produced it, not merely to display it.
The Vuitton maison inevitably carries two names with it: its founder, Louis Vuitton, and its then-current creative director, Marc Jacobs. Two designers who, each in his own era, managed to blend the classic values of tradition and innovation to leave a significant mark on the house’s history.
The Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris chose to pay tribute to the house’s two key figures with ‘Louis Vuitton/Marc Jacobs,’ an exhibition that places both figures in their respective eras and examines their contributions to the fashion industry: from the trunks and suitcases women crossed the ocean with in the age of industrialization, to the cloning of the Monogram logo as today’s emblematic print.
Laid out over two floors, each devoted to one creator, the show highlights the common ground between both figures. Set designers Samantha Gainsbury and Joseph Bennett are responsible for the staging of this retrospective which, in the words of curator Pamela Golbin, «builds a bridge between the 19th and 20th centuries to conclude that both are synonymous with audacity, excellence and creativity.»
The exhibition opened its doors on March 9 and ran until September 16, but the house’s closest circle had already enjoyed an exclusive preview of Vuitton’s savoir-faire. The opening, held on March 7 at the museum, brought together artists, collaborators and devotees of the house such as Takashi Murakami, Gwyneth Paltrow and Natalia Vodianova.
