Théâtre de la Mode

Maryhill Museum of Art’s permanent display of Théâtre de la Mode presents post-World War II French haute couture fashions on one-third-life-size human mannequins. When it appeared at Louvre’s Museum of Decorative Arts in 1945, the Théâtre de la Mode opening drew 100,000 visitors. The exhibition toured Europe and the United States in 1946, before languishing in the basement of San Francisco’s City of Paris department store. The sets were lost, but the mannequins were saved through the efforts of Alma de Bretteville Spreckels, who championed their transfer to Maryhill Museum of Art.

Maryhill is home to nine re-built sets and restored mannequins dressed in period casual and formal wear. Each year, three of the nine sets are on display.

In 2022, all or part of three different Théâtre de la Mode sets will rotate onto view: Louis Touchagues’ “La Rue de la Paix en la Place Vendôme”; Georges Douking’s “L’Île de la Cité”; and a portion of Christian Bérard’s “Le Théâtre.”

IN THE NEWS

Town and Country article about Dior film premiered during the first digital Paris Couture Week.
Balmain podcast conversation with fashion journalist Lynn Yaeger who examines the hardships, challenges and shortages of a newly liberated Paris.

ONLINE EXHIBITION

Aficionados of fashion and fashion history are generally familiar with the story of the Théâtre de la Mode, the circumstances surrounding its creation in post-war Paris, its travel to diverse European and American cities, and its serendipitous arrival at Maryhill Museum of Art. Here that story is retold using vintage narratives, including texts from the catalogues of the 1945 London Théâtre de la Mode exhibition and its 1946 New York presentation, and from the museum’s own archives.

CLICK HERE to read online exhibition.

FROM THE MARYHILL BLOG