This season, Paris is staging more than just runway shows. From a sweeping retrospective of Paul Poiret at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs to a graceful tribute to ballet at Galerie Dior and an exploration of movement at Palais Galliera, the city’s top fashion museums are offering a cultural itinerary as chic as the couture on display. Whether you’re drawn to the glamour of early 20th-century design or curious about how fashion adapts to the rhythms of modern life, these three exhibitions promise a stylish detour through fashion history.
Dior and Dance
La Galerie Dior, the museum-like space at 30 Montaigne devoted to the house’s history, has opened a new exhibition tracing the brand’s decades-long dialogue with the arts, this time with a spotlight on dance. Around 150 haute couture looks, original sketches, photographs, and archival documents chart Dior’s story from its founding in 1947 to today, highlighting how movement and performance have shaped its designs.
For the first time, an entire gallery is dedicated to ballet, recalling Christian Dior’s own foray into costume design for Roland Petit’s Treize Danses in 1947, as well as Maria Grazia Chiuri’s work for Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar’s contemporary piece Chapter 3: The Brutal Journey of the Heart in 2019. The show unfolds across thirteen themed sections, from the romance of gardens to the drama of balls, revealing the craft, imagination, and evolving spirit of the ateliers at 30 Montaigne.
La Galerie Dior (11, rue François-Ier, Paris 8) is open from 11 am to 7 pm, every day except Tuesday. Last admission is at 5:30 pm. Online reservation is recommended on galeriedior.com.
Fashion on the Move #3, Palais Galliera
Peter Knapp, Rita Scherrer à St-Moritz , VdeV, 1970.
At Palais Galliera’s Gabrielle Chanel galleries, the third chapter of its Fashion on the Move series focuses on winter sports and the evolution of fashion in motion. On view until October 12, 2025, the exhibition traces how sporting activities, once the domain of England’s 18th-century aristocracy, sparked a centuries-long transformation in clothing and cultural attitudes toward the body.
Through archival pieces from the museum’s collection, alongside select contemporary loans, the show explores the rise of sportswear, the shift in women’s clothing for physical activity, and how athletic aesthetics reshaped ideas of beauty and mobility. It’s a thoughtful look at how fashion has adapted to movement, reflecting both the demands of sport and the changing ideals of freedom, health, and style.
Paul Poiret: Fashion is a Feast
Thérèse Bonney (1894-1978). Paul Poiret and model Renée in the salons of his couture house, 1 rond-point des Champs-Elysées. 1927. Gelatino silver bromide print by ARCP, [198.], from the negative. Bibliothèque historique de la Ville de Paris.
Known as the couturier who liberated women from the corset, Paul Poiret helped usher in the modern era of fashion with designs that celebrated movement, color, and theatrical flair. This sweeping retrospective—his first major monograph at the museum and in Paris—traces the arc of his revolutionary career, from his early work with Doucet and Worth to the launch of his own house in 1903. Through over 550 works, including garments, accessories, perfume bottles, and archival images, the exhibition offers a window into Poiret’s maximalist imagination and his collaborations with artists like Raoul Dufy and Georges Lepape.
George Barbier — Cover of Les Modes magazine April 1912 Paris, Manzi, Joyant et Cie, 1912 Gravure © Les Arts Décoratifs
Visitors are immersed in the many worlds he bridged: from Belle Époque salons and Ballets Russes-inspired silhouettes to his fantastical parties and pioneering ventures in home decor and fragrance. The show also touches on Poiret’s lesser-known legacy as a creative director avant la lettre—an orchestrator of total aesthetic experiences whose influence can be seen in everyone from Christian Dior to John Galliano.
Paul Poiret: Fashion is a Feast is on view until January 11, 2026, at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.