Opening at Palais Galliera this month, A Wardrobe of One’s Own looks at how 19th-century women adopted elements of menswear, from tailored suits and trousers to ties and top hats, and how clothing became a way to challenge ideas around femininity and social roles.
The exhibition, formally titled A Wardrobe of One’s Own: Dissident Femininities in the 19th Century, brings together almost 500 works spanning garments, accessories, paintings, photographs and fashion posters. It traces how women in France and Anglo-Saxon countries borrowed from the male wardrobe not only for style, but as a way to claim freedom, identity and a different place in society.
The display includes Amazonian riding costumes, trousers, tailored suits, cravats, bow ties and top hats, alongside imagery that shows how these choices disrupted the gender binaries of the period. It also looks at working women in suits and boots, sporting dress and the styles associated with artistic and lesbian Paris around 1900.
A highlight is the wardrobe of painter Rosa Bonheur, presented exclusively for the exhibition, offering a rare look at how one woman used dress to shape both her public image and her autonomy.
📍 Palais Galliera, Musée de la Mode de Paris
📅 26 September 2026 – 14 February 2027
🎟️ Full price €14; reduced price €12
More than a fashion history exhibition, A Wardrobe of One’s Own shows how clothing can become a tool of resistance, and how the wardrobe has long been a site where identity is negotiated.
