Christian Lacroix on Fashion

The story of fashion from the eighteenth century to the present day, as told by Christian Lacroix and illustrated with examples of his own designs and historic costumes.

"This is not a retrospective, but my own look at the costume collections of the Musee des Arts Decoratifs, from which I chose pieces from all eras, some never before exhibited. I chose those that were most inspiring, those that best told the story of fashion that I would have wanted to tell if I were the museum curator that I intended to be when I was a student.

"My twenty years in the fashion business are another way of telling this story, and I selected the strongest designs from the haute couture collections of the Maison Lacroix between 1987 and 2007, then arranged them according to themes-black and white, color, flowers, ethnic styles, and so forth-and linked them with pieces from the museum collection." -Christian Lacroix

Christian Lacroix is one of the most inventive and admired fasion designers in the world. He is also incredibly well-versed in fashion history, and he brings that expertise to bear in this delightful imaginary museum of historic and contemporary fasion. Each featured piece-whether from the museum's collection or the Maison Lacroix-is distinguished by its cut, its detail, its color, and its texture; and the pieces are juxtaposed and photographed in a way that emphasizes their relationship across the centuries.

Patrick Mauries is the author of numerous books, including Cabinets of Curiosities. Olivier Saillard is a fashion historian and curator at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris.