If you can't make it to Paris Fashion Week, consider exploring the City of Lights' first foray into Couture at the Met. The museum's latest exhibition, "Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity," showcases the birth of modern fashion as captured by the Impressionist movement's leading artists, and offers visitors the opportunity to view the inspiration behind their works in the flesh — or rather, in the cloth. Original dresses are displayed on mannequins, alongside period photographs, illustrations, and paintings.
In the 1860s, fashion came into the forefront of popular culture in Paris, coinciding with a proliferation of fashion magazines (beginning with BAZAAR) and department stores brimming with ready-to-wear lines. Paintings by Monet, Renoir, Degas, Manet and more reflect the period's obsession with fine clothing.
"Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity," currently on preview for members at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Tisch Galleries, is open to the public February 26 – May 27. The exhibition will be accompanied by a book of the same name, which takes an in-depth look at the fusion of fashion, writing, and art in Paris between the 1860s and 1880s.