Both silent and secretive, determined to the point of spending her entire life in the solitude of the atelier, Madame Grès aspired to be a sculptor and did undoubtedly become the greatest sculptor of all the fashion designers of her era. Across five decades, from the 1930s to the 1970s, she persisted, with monastic dedication, in building a body of work that transcended the fleeting fashions she viewed with contempt. Claiming to wear out up to three pairs of scissors for each of her collections, she invented her craft through the use and re-use of draping, raising it to the level of an art form. More than 600 haute couture designs, and as many photographs, are held in these collections alongside the masters of high fashion — Cristóbal Balenciaga, Charles James, Madeleine Vionnet, Elsa Schiaparelli, Coco Chanel and Jean Patou, among others. On display November 11-June 30, 2023.
