Palais Galliera

Paris's museum of fashion occupies a palace built for a duchess's art collection. The Duchess of Galliera commissioned the Italian Renaissance-style building in the late nineteenth century, then left her paintings to Genoa instead. Since 1977 it has housed the city's fashion collection, and signs often call it the Palais Galliera, musée de la Mode de Paris.

The collection runs from the eighteenth century to the present: court dress, nineteenth-century gowns, haute couture, ready-to-wear and accessories, along with photographs and fashion drawings. Because historic textiles are fragile and cannot stay on view for long, the museum shows its holdings through changing displays rather than a fixed hang. The vaulted Gabrielle Chanel galleries on the lower level give the collection more space.

The palace stands in its own small garden near the Trocadéro. It suits anyone interested in clothing, design or the social history of how Parisians dressed.