La mode en majesté: haute couture and tradition at the Thai court – Musée des Arts Décoratifs
The Musée des Arts Décoratifs is devoting one of its main exhibitions this season to the royal wardrobe of Thailand. La mode en majesté, haute couture et tradition à la cour de Thaïlande brings court dress from Bangkok to Paris and shows what happened when it met French couture.
Much of the show is about cloth. There is Thai silk in quantity, woven by hand, and gold embroidery worked in remarkable detail. Court dress in Siam was a code long before fashion had runways: the way a length of fabric was folded, the pattern it carried and its colour all told the viewer something about rank and occasion.
Students of interior design have good reason to go, even though the subject is dress. The palette alone repays the visit, with deep indigo, gold and saturated jewel colours set against one another. So does the surface of the hand-woven fabrics, which have a depth that printed cloth never quite manages. A ceremonial garment holds a room through texture and pattern, and a woven textile can do the same on a wall, a bed or a chair. Layering fabrics like these is one of the simplest ways to give a modern interior warmth.
The exhibition also tells the story of Queen Sirikit, who set out to bring traditional Thai silk into the modern wardrobe. She worked with European couturiers, Pierre Balmain among them, and the results are on display. They make a persuasive case that a craft tradition and contemporary design can sit comfortably together.
The show is not really a fashion retrospective. It is a close look at materials with a long history and at the patience that goes into working them. Anyone interested in how other cultures can inform the way we furnish a room should make time for it.
DURATION : 13 May to 1 November 2026
LOCATION : Musée des Arts Décoratifs, 107 rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris
MORE INFO : Click here
Faculty: Fashion
