‘Louvre Couture’ exhibition in Paris breaks record to become Louvre’s second most visited showcase

More than a million people visited the Louvre's first exhibition dedicated to fashion, ‘Louvre Couture’, which closed on Sunday.

The unique exhibition brought together masterpieces from the Louvre's department of decorative arts and notable pieces from the history of contemporary fashion between the 1960s and 2025.

Gucci topcoat on show at the Louvre Couture exhibtion (Gucci topcoat on show at the Louvre Couture exhibtion)

Spread over almost 9,000 square metres, the exhibition featured around 100 fashion items and accessories on loan from 45 fashion houses and designers, including Hubert de Givenchy, Thom Browne, Alexander McQueen, Karl Lagerfeld and John Galliano. It was part of a drive to broaden the Louvre's audience.

Items from Paco Rabanne, Balenciaga and Loewe on show at the Louvre Couture exhibition (Items from Paco Rabanne, Balenciaga and Loewe on show at the Louvre Couture exhibition)

Paris’ famous museum stated that the exhibition attracted 1.059 million visitors, making it the second most visited exhibition in the Louvre's history – just shy of the 1.072 million for the 2019/2020 Leonardo da Vinci exhibition.

"We're seeing a real upsurge in fashion in museums," said Camille de Foresta, auctioneer and vice-president of Christie’s France – comments echoed by Louvre president and director Laurence Des Cars, who stated that the Louvre’s ambition was to attract “new generations of visitors with different cultural references.”

For Castelbajac the Middle Ages are an inexhaustible source of inspiration (For Castelbajac the Middle Ages are an inexhaustible source of inspiration)

‘Louvre Couture’ opened on 24 January and closed on Sunday 24 August 2025.