This season, the runway moves into the gallery as we discover summer’s finest fashion exhibitions. From sequined façades in Paris to 350-carat legacies in London, these exhibitions aren’t just about fashion, they’re about history, identity, and the visual language that has shaped our cultural memory.
Fashion exhibitions aren’t what they used to be. Gone are the days of static mannequins in glass boxes. Today’s shows are immersive, cinematic, and deeply personal built like cathedrals to vision, emotion, and craft. They’re the kind of exhibitions that don’t just show clothes, they tell stories: of power, of resistance, of transformation. Of how a single colour can become a legacy (Valentino), or how tailoring becomes a political act (The Met’s Superfine).
From Rick Owens’s brutalist altarpiece at Palais Galliera to Cartier’s glittering archive takeover at the V&A, this global curation of fashion exhibitions is proof that the most exciting conversations in design are no longer confined to Fashion Week. They’re happening in museums, where the stakes and the stories feel even higher.
So, whether you’re planning a summer art sprint through Europe or just curating your cultural calendar from the sofa, here are six exhibitions worth your boarding pass. Fashion as you’ve never seen it, elevated, eternal, and wildly alive.
Giorgio Armani Privé: 2005–2025
Armani/Silos, Milan • Until Dec 28, 2025
To mark 20 years of Giorgio Armani Privé, the house goes big … like, 150-look retrospective big. Housed inside the industrial-cool Silos space, the exhibition unpacks Armani’s haute couture archive. Woven through thematic “chapters” that highlight Armani’s legacy. From red carpet glamour to pared-down tailoring, this retrospective is as much an emotional archive as it is a fashion history moment. Expect slinky tailoring, sculptural gowns, and the quiet power of understatement.
Louvre Couture: Art and Fashion – Statement Piece
Louvre Museum, Paris • Until Jul 21, 2025
The Louvre opens its encyclopaedic archive to fashion’s finest, staging 65 designs and accessories among the museum’s decorative arts. From Byzantine relics to Second Empire elegance, this isn’t just a display, it’s a dialogue. Fashion’s ancestral techniques and aesthetic references are woven into centuries-old tapestries, objects, and art. Expect couture to echo history, with iconic pieces from houses Dior, Balenciaga, and more, past and present, placed in conversation with the masterpieces that inspired them.
Superfine: Tailoring Black Style
The Met, New York City • Until Oct 26, 2025
A three-century sweep of Black dandyism, Superfine explores how fashion became a tool of identity, resistance, and self-styling across the African diaspora. With 12 themed sections, the show blends garments, photography, painting, and decorative arts to chart how Black elegance shaped and subverted Western style codes. It’s bold, historical, and deeply intentional. A masterclass in fashion as cultural power, aesthetic pleasure, and political strategy.
Cartier
Victoria & Albert Museum, London • Until Nov 16, 2025
Cartier’s comeback with its first major retrospective in 30 years feels like jewellery royalty in museum form. Over 350 watches, tiaras, sketches, and royal commissions trace the house’s rise from design atelier to global icon. Highlights include early technical sketches, rare gemstones, and show‑stopping tiaras … you’ll leave wanting a legacy bracelet of your own.
Valentino: Orizzonti | Rosso
PM23, Rome • Until Aug 31, 2025
Rome’s ode to Valentino’s signature red trails through 50 couture looks paired with modern art by Rothko and Basquiat. The exhibition reads like a crimson poem in three acts: pigment, passion, and power. Every gown bleeds with colour emotion, each installation a saturated celebration of the hue as both visual and cultural anchor.
Rick Owens: Temple of Love
Palais Galliera, Paris • Until Jan 1, 2026
A full-body experience of Rick Owens’s world, this monumental retrospective spans 100 silhouettes, brutalist sculptures, rare archives, and an eerie recreation of his LA bedroom. Personal, poetic, and provocative, the show traces Owens’s journey from underground goth god to global fashion philosopher. With sequined-draped statues and cement altars, it transforms Galliera into a temple of devotion, beauty, and raw romanticism. Michèle Lamy’s spirit haunts every corner in the best way.
For more of the latest fashion, art and culture, visit our dedicated archives and stay across our Instagram.
