Impressionist Fashion at the Musée d’Orsay Boutique

In honor of the superb exhibition Impressionnisme et la Mode at the Musée d’Orsay, the museum’s boutique has re-created fashion highlights of the epoch, based on the Impressionist masterpieces and the sumptuous garments and accessories on show. Parisian milliner Marie Mercié’s jaunty straw hats, festooned with flowers, birds and delicate veils are handmade, and no two are alike. Designer Marc-Antoine Barrois’s elegant black silk foulard was inspired by Giovanni Boldini’s portrait of notorious Parisian dandy Robert de Montesquiou.

Other highlights: a collector’s quality silver-tipped ebony walking stick ($970) and a slightly more accessible version in silver plate ($375); buttery deerskin gloves by French glovemaker Fabre; parasols in sturdy French linen and frilly polka-dotted umbrellas, delicate lace gloves and fans, and an array of earrings, bracelets and necklaces. Some items are available only at the museum boutique, but many can be found at www.boutiquesdesmusees.fr.

Originally published in the November 2012 issue of France Today