Chanel, Dior and Givenchy; Westwood, Versace, Thom Browne and more—iconic fashion will be on display in the museum’s permanent-collection galleries
HOUSTON—November 19, 2025—Following on the Louvre Museum’s landmark debut of Louvre Couture, its first-ever fashion exhibition, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, will present an adaptation of that show in November. Displaying the work of historic and contemporary fashion houses alongside masterworks from the MFAH collections, the Houston presentation also features several rare loans from the Louvre’s own holdings of historical decorative arts. The exhibition will be on view November 19, 2025 to March 15, 2026.
Louvre Couture at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston will present 36 ensembles and accessories from 23 fashion houses across two of the museum’s buildings in the galleries of Antiquities, European, American, Modern & Contemporary, and Design. Each look is presented alongside works of art from the MFAH collection to create a dialogue between past and present. The exhibition also includes several rare and important loans from the Louvre Museum’s historic decorative-arts holdings, preserving the original show’s premise of placing the Louvre’s decorative-arts collections and the fine art of couture in conversation.
New additions for the Houston show from the archives of the fashion houses will complement the selection of looks originally featured in the Paris edition. Ensembles have been selected from heritage houses such as Balenciaga, Chanel, Christian Dior, Givenchy, Versace, Louis Vuitton and Vivienne Westwood, as well as from important designers established in this century, including Thom Browne, Erdem, Jacquemus and Iris van Herpen. The majority of the pieces have been drawn from collections designed since 2000, although some looks date from the 1990s.
The earliest work, Yves Saint Laurent’s 1965 Robe Mondrian, will be shown with the Piet Mondrian Composition with Grid #1 (1918), from the MFAH collection. Additional pairings include an André-Charles Boulle Longcase Clock (c. 1685) with Givenchy’s Pantsuit from 1990–91; an elaborate 18th-century Biombo [folding screen] with Views of Mexico City with Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel’s ensemble from 1990; and Louise Nevelson’s sculptural abstraction Mirror Image I (1969) with a Yohji Yamamoto ensemble from 2024.
“It is a privilege to work with our colleagues at the Louvre to bring to the U.S. an inspiring dialogue between art and fashion,” comments Gary Tinterow, director and Margaret Alkek Williams chair of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. “Working collaboratively to create thoughtful pairings, Olivier Gabet and Marie Brimicombe, the Louvre curators who originated this exhibition, and MFAH curators Cindi Strauss and Christine Gervais, will bring fresh perspectives to our art collections, and illuminate the artistry of haute couture.”
Organization and Funding
This exhibition is organized by the musée du Louvre, Paris and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Curatorial team: Olivier Gabet, Director, Department of Decorative Arts, and Marie Brimicombe from the musée du Louvre, Paris. Christine Gervais, The Fredricka Crain Director, Rienzi and Curator, Decorative Arts and Cindi Strauss, Assistant Director, Programming and The Sara and Bill Morgan Curator of Decorative Arts, Craft, and Design from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
This exhibition is organized by the musée du Louvre, Paris and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Curatorial team: Olivier Gabet, Director, Department of Decorative Arts, and Marie Brimicombe from the musée du Louvre, Paris. Christine Gervais, The Fredricka Crain Director, Rienzi and Curator, Decorative Arts and Cindi Strauss, Assistant Director, Programming and The Sara and Bill Morgan Curator of Decorative Arts, Craft, and Design from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Lead foundation underwriting is provided by:
Lead Corporate Sponsor:
Major support is provided by:
Jerold B. Katz Foundation
Susan D. Sarofim
Jerold B. Katz Foundation
Susan D. Sarofim
Generous support is provided by:
Margaret Alkek Williams
Nancy Pollok Guinee
Anonymous in honor of Nancy and Rich Kinder
Carolyn Rosenstock-Ellis
Margaret Alkek Williams
Nancy Pollok Guinee
Anonymous in honor of Nancy and Rich Kinder
Carolyn Rosenstock-Ellis
About the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Spanning 14 acres in the heart of Houston’s Museum District, the main campus comprises the Audrey Jones Beck Building, the Caroline Wiess Law Building, the Lillie and Hugh Roy Cullen Sculpture Garden and the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building. Nearby, two house museums—Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens, and Rienzi—present collections of American and European decorative arts. The MFAH is also home to the Glassell School of Art, with its Core Residency Program and Junior and Studio schools; and the International Center for the Arts of the Americas (ICAA), a leading research institute for 20th-century Latin American and Latino art. www.mfah.org
Spanning 14 acres in the heart of Houston’s Museum District, the main campus comprises the Audrey Jones Beck Building, the Caroline Wiess Law Building, the Lillie and Hugh Roy Cullen Sculpture Garden and the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building. Nearby, two house museums—Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens, and Rienzi—present collections of American and European decorative arts. The MFAH is also home to the Glassell School of Art, with its Core Residency Program and Junior and Studio schools; and the International Center for the Arts of the Americas (ICAA), a leading research institute for 20th-century Latin American and Latino art. www.mfah.org
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