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Jules François Crahay. Back in the spotlight

Start Date 23 February 2024
End Date 10 November 2024
Venue Musée Mode & Dentelle
Location Brussels, Belgium
A collection of female dresses in hues of green, grey, black and white.
Left: Black and white polka dot dress. Right: floral multi-coloured dress.
Colourful fashion illustrations.
Four female mannequins wearing vintage dresses in hues of brown, red, white, red and blue.

Jules-François Crahay, Back in the spotlight

23 February – 10 November 2024, Musée Mode & Dentelle, Brussels (Belgium)

The name Jules François Crahay may not mean very much to you, and yet… This Belgian is one of the last geniuses of couture. For the first time, and thanks to extensive research, the museum is devoting an exhibition to him. An opportunity to discover or rediscover this undeservedly forgotten couturier.

Jules François Crahay. Back in the spotlight traces the long and fascinating career of this fashion virtuoso. Beyond a biographical aim, the exhibition seeks to define and enhance the renown of this designer’s unique style. As artistic director of the Nina Ricci fashion house between 1959 and 1963 and then at Lanvin from 1964 to 1984, Crahay set the tone for a light, playful, romantic fashion, a touch theatrical but always perfectly in control.

While his couture was not one to break boundaries or use statement-women, it was marked by independence and sometimes dictated fashion, shaping it through its passion for folklore and exoticism. And keeping its distance from both purism and futurism. He excelled, in particular, in the manipulation of fabrics, colours and motifs.

The exhibition covers half a century of the history of fashion while tracing the career of this little-known Belgian couturier. The Fashion & Lace Museum unveils its unique collection built up over the years. A selection of haute couture and ready-to-wear samples from this collection is supplemented by outstanding loans from the Palais Galliera – City of Paris Fashion Museum, the Museum of Decorative Arts, the Patrimoine Lanvin and other public or private collections. 65 silhouettes, accompanied by sketches, photos, films and archival documents bring to life the person and work of the famous yet forgotten couturier.

The result of extensive research, the exhibition is accompanied by a publication edited by Lannoo: Jules François Crahay, Rediscovering A Grand Couturier, under the direction of Denis Laurent

On sale at the museum and online (Price: €45)

Images courtesy of Jules François Crahay. Back in the spotlight © detiffe.com