Fashion on the Move #3

Garments designed for physical activity and sport through the ages are compared with clothes that people wore in everyday life. It is a dialogue that takes in the concept of specialised sportswear, from the adaptation of women's outfits for sporting activities in the late 19th century to the masculinisation of women's clothing and the introduction of sportswear in the modern wardrobe.

Swimming costumes, cycling outfits and riding habits, motoring coats and accessories, tennis wear and sneakers are just some of the silhouettes used to illustrate three centuries of fashion history. Fashion on the Move #3 is more than just a chronological review of the history of clothing; it offers insights into how the liberation of the body led to changes in attitudes and standards of beauty.

A large section of this last instalment of the exhibition is devoted to winter sports, tracing the emergence of high-altitude resorts and the development of new winter sports such as skiing, tobogganing, ice hockey, ice skating and sledding, as well as the gradual emergence of specially adapted outfits and accessories from specialist equipment manufacturers (including Rossignol, Tunmer and Mavest), fashion houses (including Hermès, Jean Patou and Madeline de Rauch) as well as collaborations between the two. This section is also an opportunity to discover the museum's extensive collection of down jackets, ski suits, stirrup ski pants and knitted accessories.

The exhibition has benefited from exceptional loans from CHANEL, the Musée National du Sport (Nice), the Bibliothèque Forney, the Bibliothèque historique de la Ville de Paris, the Musée Carnavalet - Histoire de Paris, the Fondation Azzedine Alaïa, the Émile Hermès collection, Patrimoine Hermès, the Balenciaga Archives, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Fusalp and Le Coq Sportif. These guest items bring added perspective to the Palais Galliera's own pieces that bear witness to exercise and sports activities through the ages, whether competitive or for leisure.