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retrospective
March 10, 2015

Inside Paris’s Sweeping New Jeanne Lanvin Exhibition

By Alice Cavanagh

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Photo: Joel Saget/Getty Images

PARIS— After the Lanvin show here on Thursday night, Alber Elbaz carried on celebrating at the opening of the Jeanne Lanvin exhibition at Paris’s Palais Galliera. The retrospective, which features more than 100 archive pieces, examines Lanvin and the glory days of haute couture — namely, the ‘20s and the ‘30s. “If I had to explain what haute couture is, or what French elegance was during the ‘20s and ‘30s, I would present some dresses from Lanvin,” said the exhibition’s curator, Olivier Saillard, who welcomed the fashion crowd alongside Elbaz at the opening. “It is so unique and chic, and there is something very discrete about it; something timeless.”

Before Coco Chanel, Jeanne Lanvin was the female force in fashion, having launched her couture house in 1889. She started one of the very first luxury lifestyle brands — at the time, la maison Lanvin incorporated hats, children’s clothes, and even furnishings.

Of focus in this particular exhibition is a catalogue of exquisite dresses — mostly eveningwear — that, even today, look astoundingly modern. There are silk dresses from the mid-’20s embroidered with glass beads that could easily be mistaken for one of Elbaz’s contemporary pieces.

Not to miss in the exhibition is a small room that serves as a shrine to Lanvin’s famous robe de style, the dress with the bouffant skirt that became the famed silhouette of the maison.

Click through our slideshow for a preview of the show.

Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo with Alber Elbaz at the exhibition. Photo: Bertrand Rindoff Petroff/Getty Images
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1 / 17 Photos
A poster for the show. Photo: Katarina Jebb/Collection Palais Galliera
Alcmène, 1929. Photo: Katarina Jebb/Collection Palais Galliera
Colombine, 1924 to 1925. Photo: Katarina Jebb/Collection Palais Galliera
Jeanne Lanvin, photographed by Harcourt. Photo: Patrimoine Lanvin/Collection Palais Galliera
Jeanne Lanvin, photographed by Laure Albin Guillot. Photo: Laure Albin Guillot/Collection Palais Galliera/© Laure Albin Guillot / Roger-Viollet
La Cavallini (dessin), 1925. Photo: Patrimoine Lanvin/Collection Palais Galliera
La Diva (sketch), 1935 to 1936. Photo: Patrimoine Lanvin/Collection Palais Galliera
La Diva, 1935 to 1936. Photo: Katarina Jebb/Collection Palais Galliera
A sketch of a girl's dress, 1925. Photo: Patrimoine Lanvin/Collection Palais Galliera
A dress for girls, 1925. Photo: Katarina Jebb/Collection Palais Galliera
Lesbos (sketch), 1925. Photo: Patrimoine Lanvin/Collection Palais Galliera
Lesbos, 1925. Photo: Katarina Jebb/Collection Palais Galliera
Coat, 1937. Photo: Katarina Jebb/Collection Palais Galliera
Marguerite de la nuit, 1929. Photo: Katarina Jebb/Collection Palais Galliera
Scintillante (sketch), 1939. Photo: Patrimoine Lanvin/Collection Palais Galliera
Scintillante, 1939. Photo: Katarina Jebb/Collection Palais Galliera
Vogue, 1924. Photo: Katarina Jebb/Collection Palais Galliera
1 / 17

Tags:

  • lanvin
  • fashions
  • exhibit
  • retrospective
  • alber elbaz
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