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Exhibition Images – Proust’s Muse, The Countess Greffulhe

Proust’s Muse, The Countess Greffulhe opened a week ago today to great fanfare. We’ve had write-ups in Avenue Magazine, Fashion Unfiltered, Harper’s Bazaar Chile, The Observer, Vogue, and the Wall Street Journal.
And don’t miss, the Wall Street Journal’s video of Tanya Rivero interviewing Valerie Steele who describes in detail a number of the incredible dresses in the exhibition!

Since the Palais Galliera does not allow its exhibitions to be photographed, we have provided installation photographs, by staff photographer Eileen Costa, that you may view and share from our Flickr album.

The exhibition design was conceived and developed by MFIT’s architect Kim Ackert together with Valerie Steele and Olivier Saillard, with lighting by Eric Steding. Note, in particular, the use of mirrors. As the Observer describes, they “force the viewer to really look at the clothes from every angle, to gaze, to stare in awe, to really admire the craftsmanship behind every piece.” Laura Jacobs at the Wall Street Journal states that “Ms. Steele brings both ardor and restraint to “Proust’s Muse,” as well as a subtle sense of the reverberations between life and art, the mirror and the camera.”

Proust’s Muse, The Countess Greffulhe runs through January 7, 2016.

Proust’s Latin Americans – Fashion Culture Event

mfit-event-prousts-latin-americans-Ruben-Gallo


How did Latin America influence Marcel Proust’s life & work? On Thursday, September 29 at 6pm, The Museum at FIT welcomed Rubén Gallo, professor of Latin American literature at Princeton University, for a presentation of his new book, Proust’s Latin Americans. Professor Gallo presented the amusing social history about the friendships & love affairs among a circle of Latin American friends that included the composer Reynaldo Hahn, Proust’s Venezuelan lover; Gabriel de Yturri, an Argentinean dandy; José-Maria de Heredia, a Cuban poet and early literary model; Antonio de La Gandara, a Mexican society painter; and Ramon Fernandez, a brilliant Mexican critic turned Nazi sympathizer.


A book signing followed the presentation. Video of this Fashion Culture event will be made available soon.

Maison Soinard

© Julien Vidal / Galliera / Roger-Viollet

© Julien Vidal / Galliera / Roger-Viollet

palais-galliera-logos-smThis exhibition was developed by the Palais Galliera, Fashion Museum of the City of Paris, Paris Musées.


In 1878, at the age of eighteen, the beautiful Princess Élisabeth de Caraman-Chimay married the wealthy Viscount (later Count) Henry Greffulhe. Most of the bride’s trousseau was made by Maison Soinard. Almost a decade later, she commissioned from the same couture house this elegant day dress in one of her favorite colors, old rose.

Proust’s Muse, The Countess Greffulhe runs through January 7, 2016 at The Museum at FIT in NYC.

Maison Soinard
Day dress, circa 1887
Antique pink silk satin, brown silk velvet appliqués
GAL1964.20.3 gift of the Gramont family to the Palais Galliera

About the Countess Greffulhe

Photograph by Otto, the Countess Greffulhe in a ball gown, circa 1887. © Otto/Galliera/Roger-Viollet.

Photograph by Otto, the Countess Greffulhe in a ball gown, circa 1887.
© Otto/Galliera/Roger-Viollet.

palais-galliera-logos-smThis exhibition was developed by the Palais Galliera, Fashion Museum of the City of Paris, Paris Musées.


Élisabeth de Caraman-Chimay, the Countess Greffulhe (1860–1952), patronized the greatest couturiers of her day, but her audacious personal style was very much her own. As the press observed: “Her fashions, whether invented for her or by her must resemble no one else’s,” adding that she preferred to look “bizarre” rather than “banal.” In this, she resembled her uncle, the dandy-poet Count Robert de Montesquiou, who inspired Marcel Proust’s notorious character, the Baron de Charlus, just as the Countess Greffulhe inspired Proust’s immortal character, Oriane, the Duchesse de Guermantes.

Proust’s Muse, The Countess Greffulhe runs through January 7, 2016 at The Museum at FIT in NYC.

Proust’s Muse, the Countess Greffulhe Exhibition Trailer

Valerie Steele offers a glimpse into The Museum at FIT’s new exhibition, Proust’s Muse, The Countess Greffulhe, based on La Mode retrouvée: Les robes trésors de la comtesse Greffulhe. Don’t miss the exceptional wardrobe of a woman who was a famous beauty and fashion icon of the Belle Époque. Opens Friday, September 23, 2016. Video by Noir Tribe Media.

palais-galliera-logos-sm

This exhibition was developed by the Palais Galliera,
Fashion Museum of the City of Paris, Paris Musées.

Welcome to Proust’s Muse, from Dr. Valerie Steele

Prousts-Muse-Book

Cover of La Mode retrouvée

palais-galliera-logos-smThis exhibition was developed by the Palais Galliera, Fashion Museum of the City of Paris, Paris Musées.

Several years ago, at the Dior couture show, I was sitting next to Olivier Saillard, director of the Palais Galliera, The Fashion Museum of the City of Paris. When he told me that he was organizing an exhibition on the Countess Greffulhe, I knew that I had to bring it to New York. The Countess Greffulhe was a true fashion icon and one of the inspirations for Marcel Proust’s immortal fictional character, Oriane, the Duchesse de Guermantes. My second book, Paris Fashion (1988) had a chapter on “Proust’s World of Fashion,” but I never dreamed that these clothes still existed. They are truly extraordinary!

Proust’s Muse, the Countess Greffulhe runs through January 7, 2016 at The Museum at FIT in NYC and is based on the exhibition, La Mode retrouvée: Les robes trésors de la comtesse Greffulhe.

This blog runs concurrently with the exhibition and will include unique object posts, exhibition videos, press, and other exhibition related material that will introduce you to the Countess Greffulhe and the exhibition Proust’s Muse, the Countess Greffulhe.

— Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of The Museum at FIT