Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Galliera Palace, located on the hill of Chaillot in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, was built between 1878 and 1894 by architect Léon Ginain for the Duchess of Galliera, Maria Brignole Sale De Ferrari. Inspired by her genoese palace, she wanted to exhibit her art collection, finally bequeathed to Genoa after a law of exile of the French royal families in 1886. The city of Paris, heir of the building in 1894, first set up a museum of industrial art before making it a place of temporary exhibitions.

In 1977, the palace became the Museum of Fashion and Costume, home to nearly 200,000 pieces (clothes, accessories, photographs) covering three centuries of dress history. Her thematic exhibitions, renewed three times a year, explore fashion as an artistic and sociocultural phenomenon. The museum closed for renovation in 2009 and 2018, reopening in 2020 with underground galleries doubling its surface, financed by Chanel.

The Fine Arts architecture of the palace, blending Italian Renaissance stone and metal structure signed Eiffel, is decorated with mosaics of Giandomenico Facchina and allegorical statues (Painting, Architecture, Sculpture). Since 2021, a permanent collection on the ground floor traces the evolution of fashion, while thematic routes such as Fashion in Motion (2023-2025) stage the body and movement.

The museum derives its name from the Duchess of Galliera, whose initial donation (1878) was changed after his death in 1888. His heirs financed the completion of the works, and the city of Paris took possession of them in 1894. The project of a costume museum, carried by Maurice Leloir in the 1920s and 1930s, was only concretized in 1977. Today managed by Paris Museums, Galliera remains a major player in the preservation and dissemination of clothing heritage.

Key figures include Léon Ginain, architect of the palace, and collectors such as Maurice Leloir, whose donations make up 40% of the 18th century's holdings. Temporary exhibitions celebrate iconic fashion designers (Balenciaga, Grès, Alaïa) or cross-cutting themes, attracting an international audience. The museum, closed during the renovations, maintained its activity through travelling exhibitions, notably at the Docks – Cité de la Mode.

In 2025, the direction will change from Emilia Hammen to Miren Arzalluz, after the latter's departure for the Guggenheim from Bilbao. Galliera continues to innovate with pedagogy spaces and partnerships with sewing houses, while preserving unique archives, such as Henry Clarke's photographs or René Gruau's drawings.

Collection

Le musée est ouvert au public lors d'expositions temporaires - deux fois par an en moyenne - d'une durée d'environ quatre à six mois chacune. Il n'y a pas de présentation permanente des collections pour des raisons de conservation.

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