A fashion lover walks through the Louvre Museum and describes what she sees…

“Everyone visits the world’s most famous museum with who they are. Our eyes, seemingly wandering at random, are drawn to what they recognize. An archaeologist will pay attention to the buildings, a hairdresser to the hairstyles, a young girl to the puppies, toys, and monsters, a hunter to the game, a horse rider to the horses… Of course, this particular interest complements a more general one; one does not exclude the other. But how fascinating is this mindset that opens, as if with a letter opener slipped into an envelope, the mystery of works of art.

I am a fashion critic. My job is to look at clothes at the beginning of their life, that is, at that very precise moment when they walk down a runway, appearing for the first time. So, it is as a fashion critic that I embarked, at the Louvre’s request, on a long wander through this museum, which I now know, if not all its nooks and crannies, then at least all its hems, belts, trimmings, all the ruffles on sleeves… In short, all the clothes and accessories once immortalized in a work of art.”—Sophie Fontanel