Garments dating from 1700 to 1792, presented in the exhibition '18th-Century Fashion: A Fantasized Legacy,' at the Palais Galliera in Paris. NICOLAS BOREL/PALAIS GALLIERA/PARIS MUSÉES
Trends affect not only clothing, but also museums. This spring, 18th-century aesthetics are proving to be an inexhaustible source of inspiration for curators. In London, the Victoria and Albert Museum recently dedicated an exhibition to the style of Marie-Antoinette (1755-1793). In Paris, there are no fewer than three simultaneous exhibitions on the subject, including one at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, which focuses on the private lives of the bourgeois and the aristocrats of the Ancien Régime, and two others dedicated to fashion, at the Palais Galliera and at the Cognacq-Jay.
"The 18th century is a period that concerns everyone," said Pascale Gorguet Ballesteros, the curator of "La Mode du XVIIIᵉ siècle. Un héritage fantasmé" ("Fashion in the 18th Century: A Fantasized Legacy"). With this exhibition at the Palais Galliera, Gorguet Ballesteros wanted "to show just how deeply the 18th century has entered our popular culture" – and how much our image of it aligns more with fantasy than with reality.
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