Musée de la mode et du textile

Fashion at the Musée de la Mode et du Textile is shown inside the Louvre palace itself. The museum occupies part of the Rohan and Marsan wings along the rue de Rivoli in Paris and is run by Les Arts Décoratifs, the institution that also manages the neighbouring Musée des Arts Décoratifs.

Its holdings span several centuries of dress, from historic costume to the work of major twentieth-century and contemporary couturiers, along with textiles and fashion accessories. Much of the collection began with the Union française des arts du costume, a body formed to preserve French dress, and the museum opened in its present form in the 1980s. Garments are fragile and light-sensitive, so the collection is displayed through changing exhibitions rather than one fixed presentation.

With more than 400,000 visitors a year, it suits anyone interested in fashion history, design or the craft of the Paris couture houses.