Paris Couture

Paris Couture is open now at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and it's one of those shows that gives you a real sense of how much ground a single craft can cover. It brings together more than 80 haute couture pieces from the Palais Galliera in Paris, so you're seeing a huge chunk of a world-class collection right here in Minneapolis.

The range is what sticks with you. You'll find Elsa Schiaparelli's shocking pink evening cape from 1938, embroidered by Maison Lesage, and Christian Dior's Palmyre dress from 1952, which was worn by Wallis Simpson. There's a 1967 Cristóbal Balenciaga ensemble, too, and then it jumps all the way to the present with a look from the Spring 2026 couture collections by creative director Matthieu Blazy. Seeing a piece from the 1930s in the same room as something from 2026 puts the whole timeline in view.

That's the point the exhibition is driving at. It draws on one of the few major institutional haute couture collections in the world to trace how luxury evolved across the 20th century—from its theatrical beginnings to its mid-century golden age and its reinvention today. It's less about a few famous names and more about how the whole thing changed over the decades.

If you want to take a bit of it home, the show is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue published by the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Paris Couture runs through January 17, 2027, so you've got plenty of time to get over to Mia and see it.