The Louvre’s first fashion exhibition — titled “Louvre Couture: Art and Fashion — Statement Pieces” and on display through July 21 — highlights the fact that museums make marvelous mood boards, and provide inspiration galore.
To wit: WWD Weekend asked an array of designers during the recent menswear and couture shows in Europe to name their favorite museum in the world, revealing a mix of famous institutions and many lesser-known gems:
Giorgio Armani
“There are two places that hold a special place in my heart. One is in my hometown of Milan. It is the Pinacoteca di Brera, built by Piermarini and located in the Palazzo di Brera, that also hosts the Botanical Garden, the Astronomical Observatory and the Academy of Fine Arts. It is home to masterpieces by great painters such as Caravaggio, Tintoretto, Raffaello, Mantegna and Piero della Francesca, as well as Hayez’s iconic ‘The Kiss.’ The Pinacoteca and its treasures are my neighbors in an area that preserves the blend of aristocratic elegance and popular charm that is one of Milan’s most enchanting qualities.
The Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, Italy.
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“Another museum I like very much is 21_21 Design Sight in Tokyo, envisioned by Issey Miyake and designed by Tadao Ando, the architect behind my Armani Teatro. I’m fascinated by the architecture of the museum, which is nestled into a wedge of earth, giving it a unique and striking character. It also hosts extraordinary design and art exhibitions, the kind that only the Japanese can come up with.”
Maria Grazia Chiuri, Dior
“My favorite museum is the Galleria Nazionale di Arte Moderna in Rome. I remember I used to go there after school and I was so fascinated by the museum’s iconic director Palma Bucarelli. My other favorite is the Brooklyn Museum in New York. It has been a formative place in my adult life and it continues to be.”
Anthony Vaccarello, Saint Laurent
“The MoMA in New York, because every time I go there, I’m always impressed by the exhibitions. In Paris, we have amazing museums, but somehow I rarely go to them because it’s my city. In New York it’s a way to become more aware of culture and exhibitions that I should see.”
Tate Modern, London, England.
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Rick Owens
“Tate Modern, for the proportions of the rooms, the scale of the rooms, the materials, the way it was updated and modernized. I like the modern industrial proportions.”
Giambattista Valli
“I cannot decide between The Calico Museum of Textiles in Ahmedabad and Palazzo Massimo, The National Roman Museum. In my head, there is a constant conversation between the two.
Peter Copping, Lanvin
“The V&A still does it for me every time. I was there not so long ago, and went through the plaster room and the British rooms. You know, the first thing you see when you go in is the Henry VIII writing casket. So it doesn’t get much more amazing with that.”
Alexandre Mattuissi, Ami Paris
“The Dia Beacon. It’s so big, so quiet. It’s like two hours from New York by train. You arrive in this little village, you walk a little bit and you alight on this museum, which is so big. I’ve been there two or three times, and every time I’m nearly alone in the museum.”
Works by Richard Serra at Dia:Beacon.
Photo Johannes Schmitt-Tegge/picture alliance via Getty Image
Brunello Cucinelli
“There is no doubt about the beauty and uniqueness of the Louvre or the Uffizi but given my education and my affection for the classic Greek culture, I would say the National Museum in Athens.”
Alessandro Sartori, Zegna
“The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid for Pablo Picasso’s ‘Guernica.’”
Norbert Stumpfl, Brioni
“The one I love the most is the Palazzo Altemps in Rome. It’s a museum which is very stylish with Roman, Greek and Egyptian antiquities. The museum is next to Piazza Navona in a 15th-century palazzo. The rooms are not crowded and there are hardly any tourists who go there. A real gem in Rome.”
Kim Jones
“I’d have to be biased and say The Charleston Trust, because I’m the vice president — of course. It’s a place of constant inspiration for me. My whole collection will go there and I’ll build the Virginia Woolf Library there as well. I’ve been doing things with Sotheby’s, with Bloomsbury as well. It’s helping find pieces for the trust that they’re looking for. Things come out of the woodwork if you talk about it and show it, so it helps.”
Adeju Thompson, Lagos Space Programme
“I would say my favorite museum is probably the V&A, because obviously I’m really into decorative arts. But also the Museum of Decorative Arts here in Paris, I was really obsessed with this. I love spaces where I can study the craftsmanship of clothes, things from the 18th century [and] 19th century. That really informs me. André Leon Talley talked about this idea of exposing yourself to things that you admire, and building a vocabulary from that, so I love to go to a lot of decorative museums that have a lot of furniture, textiles, paintings, just craftsmanship. I always find myself going to these sorts of museums, but any museum really to look at art, contemporary art. I’m generally just hungry to soak up beautiful things.”
Leeum Samsung Museum of Art.
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Jung Wook-jun, Juun.J
He names Leeum Samsung Museum of Art as his favorite. Consisting of two parts, one dedicated to traditional Korean art and the other to contemporary art, it is located in the Hannam-dong area of Seoul. “It’s so poetic,” he adds.
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