In Paris, the enduring allure of the eighteenth century returns to the spotlight as the Palais Galliera – Paris Fashion Museum presents La mode du 18e siècle. Un héritage fantasmé. Opening on March 14 and running through July 12, 2026, the exhibition explores the visual language of women’s fashion during the Age of Enlightenment and the many ways its elegance continues to shape fashion’s imagination today.
The eighteenth century marked a pivotal moment in the evolution of women’s dress. Silhouettes became increasingly expressive, fabrics more sumptuous, and adornment more theatrical. From structured bodices and sweeping skirts to lavish textiles and elaborate hairstyles, fashion of the period reflected both artistic experimentation and shifting ideas about the female figure. What emerged was a distinctive aesthetic that would leave a lasting imprint on fashion history.
La mode du 18e siècle. Un héritage fantasmé invites visitors to explore how this era has been remembered, reinterpreted, and reimagined across centuries. Rather than presenting the eighteenth century as a fixed historical moment, the exhibition reveals how its imagery has evolved into a cultural myth—an idealized vision that designers, artists, and popular culture continue to revisit.
Drawing from the Palais Galliera’s exceptional collections, the exhibition gathers more than seventy silhouettes alongside accessories, textiles, graphic works, and photographs. Together, they trace the defining elements of Enlightenment-era style and its lasting visual codes. Among the most remarkable pieces on display is an extremely delicate corset that once belonged to Queen Marie Antoinette. Rarely shown to the public due to its fragility, the garment offers an intimate glimpse into the construction of aristocratic dress during one of the most refined periods of European fashion.
The exhibition also places historical garments in conversation with contemporary creations, revealing how modern designers reinterpret eighteenth-century forms, materials, and ornamentation. Through this dialogue across time, the exhibition highlights how fashion continuously reimagines its past, transforming heritage into a living creative language.
Among the contemporary voices featured in the exhibition is French designer Pierre-Louis Mascia. Known for his richly layered prints and painterly approach to textiles, Mascia contributes a silhouette that reflects his ongoing exploration of historic European decorative traditions. Trained as an illustrator and originally from Toulouse, the designer has built a distinctive universe where collage, archival imagery, and textile heritage converge.
Since launching his label in 2007 in collaboration with the historic silk printing house Achille Pinto in Como, Mascia has developed a signature approach to pattern and color. His designs often weave together fragments of historical motifs, combining elements drawn from eighteenth- and nineteenth-century textile archives into compositions that feel both timeless and strikingly contemporary.
The archives of the Palais Galliera, considered among the world’s most significant fashion collections, offer a powerful source of inspiration for this exploration of textile memory. Within Mascia’s visual language, historical ornamentation is transformed into new compositions that bring together different centuries of decorative culture, allowing past and present to coexist within a single garment.
This dialogue between heritage and contemporary creativity is further underscored by the involvement of Achille Pinto, the renowned Como-based textile printing house that has collaborated with Mascia since the beginning of his brand. With more than ninety years of expertise in silk printing and textile craftsmanship, the company has played a pivotal role in supporting the preservation of historic fashion.
As part of the project surrounding the exhibition, Achille Pinto has undertaken a patronage initiative dedicated to the restoration of an eighteenth-century garment from the museum’s collection. The restored piece, a robe à la française dating from the 1770s, embodies the textile artistry of its era. Characterized by its distinctive back pleats and luxurious silk fabrics, the garment reflects the remarkable technical mastery of the silk workshops that defined the fashion landscape of the period.
The meticulous restoration has revived fragile fabrics and reinforced delicate sections of the garment, allowing it to be safely exhibited once again. Through this effort, a remarkable example of eighteenth-century textile heritage is preserved while returning to public view after decades away from exhibition.
By tracing how the visual codes of Enlightenment fashion have traveled across centuries, La mode du 18e siècle. Un héritage fantasmé reveals the enduring power of fashion to transform history into imagination. The eighteenth century continues to resonate not simply as a historical reference, but as a source of creative fantasy—an aesthetic language endlessly revisited by designers and artists seeking inspiration in its elegance, craftsmanship, and theatrical beauty.
At the Palais Galliera, this imagined heritage unfolds through garments, textiles, and contemporary interpretations that illuminate the ways fashion remembers, reinvents, and celebrates its past.
