Vestology

The jacket is a key part of every wardrobe and has many typologies including the suit jacket, reefer coat, tuxedo, tailcoat, worker’s jacket, and officer’s jacket. The jacket has redefined sartorial tastes and established itself as an essential piece in both the men’s and women’s wardrobe thanks to its many uses and the influence of changing fashions throughout history and, in particular, many fertile exchanges with England. Whether it was worn for rich pageantry or somber austerity, as a way for men to renounce being ostentatious or as a symbol of women’s emancipation, and even in its bourgeois and rock ‘n’ roll incarnations, the jacket remains the most ambivalent garment in costume history and fashion.

By following a thematic path, the Vestology exhibition documents this garment’s rich social and cultural history as a foundational piece of the modern wardrobe while playing up opposites. The show’s eight sections contrast various iconic pieces representative of fashion history with contemporary pieces.

The exhibition is made up of loans from fashion houses, historical and vintage pieces from collectors, and pieces from the ESMOD study collection and the Printemps archive, as well as photographic prints, videos, perfumes, textile samples, drawings, patterns, and personal accounts—each presented to engage all the senses.

The jacket appears here in its many incarnations with a focus on its forms, functions, codes, and manufacturing. Whether broad-shouldered, tapered, streamlined, semi-fitted, or loose, jackets adapt to all body types to flatter and even enhance the body thanks to their construction.

Bar suit or denim blouson, classic jacket or safari cut, frock coat or blazer? Dior or Chanel, Rabanne or Courrèges, Kenzo or Gaultier? Each style has its own jacket.

Exhibition press release.

Photos ©lucas_soubigou-marie