Un vestiaire à soi. Féminités dissidentes au 19e siècle

Palais Galliera - musée de la Mode de Paris

This autumn, the Palais Galliera presents the exhibition "Un vestiaire à soi. Féminités dissidentes au 19e siècle" and sheds light on a phenomenon that remains largely unknown: the appropriation, by women of the 19th century, of the masculine dress codes of their time. Conceived as a response to the often normative approaches to femininity found in fashion exhibitions, Un vestiaire à soi. Féminités dissidentes au 19e siècle aims to fill an important gap in the history of fashion. The exhibition reveals how the increasingly pronounced adoption of masculine dress codes accompanied a desire for profound transformation in the place of women in 19th-century society, particularly in France and the Anglo-Saxon world. With nearly 500 works, the exhibition presents numerous fashion pieces and emblematic accessories: riding habits, trousers, tailored suits, ties, bow ties, top hats... The exhibition also reveals an exceptional ensemble never exhibited before: the wardrobe of Rosa Bonheur, unveiled in its entirety. The exhibition gives pride of place to iconography, with a selection of paintings, fashion posters and 150 previously unpublished amateur photographs, gathered together for the occasion. This confrontation between silhouettes and images offers a better understanding of the cultural and social significance of the fashions of the time, and underscores how the masculinization of women's fashion questions the gender binaries that structured 19th-century society. The exhibition aims to renew the way we look at the evolution of women's fashion in the 19th century. From women wearing men's clothing to the fashions of artistic and lesbian Paris in 1900, and including working women in tailored suits and ankle boots, it examines the impact of dissident expressions of femininity and the way they contributed to redefining women's wardrobes of this period. The exhibition brings into dialogue major historical figures, from Marie-Antoinette to Natalie Clifford Barney, from George Sand to Rosa Bonheur, with a multitude of anonymous women revealed through vernacular photography, inviting visitors to identify with and claim this heritage. Beyond its historical grounding, the exhibition resonates with contemporary issues and invites reflection on the place of clothing and fashion in the transformation of identities and social roles, in the 19th century as in the 21st.

Source: Paris Open Data ↗