Audrey Azoulay, Minister of Culture and Communication, received the report of Olivier Saillard on the mission on the heritage of fashion in France that was entrusted to her in October 2016.
This report takes stock of the fashion collections held in 32 museums and 12 private heritage collections of fashion houses.
This report confirms the major role of France and Paris in fashion creation and highlights the growing involvement of fashion houses in the preservation of their heritage and the sometimes unknown wealth of museum collections in the regions. Nevertheless, it underlines the fragility of these collections because of the disparities in means and expertise to restore or maintain this heritage.
Following this report, the Minister has already decided to implement the following measures to preserve, enrich and enhance fashion heritage:
- Creation of a Fashion Fund within the collection of the National Centre of Plastic Arts. It will result in the acquisition of 5 pieces of creators each season to allow the creation of a fund representative of contemporary creation. The acquired pieces may be the subject of loans for temporary exhibitions in France and abroad or deposits in museums;
- Creation of a label «French fashion heritage» to highlight the exemplary conservation work of certain fashion houses and brands;
- Launch of the first professional meetings on the heritage of fashion;
- Census of collections of 32 museums holding fashion collections on the Ministry’s portal dedicated to the collections of museums in France «Joconde».
The report proposes a number of other particularly relevant measures (encourage donations by creators or collectors, protect by inalienability all the fashion collections of public collections, support research in the fashion sector, etc.) ongoing expertise by the departments of the ministry.
At a time when the Hyères International Fashion and Photography Festival is taking place, a true illustration of the vitality of creators, the Minister hopes that this project to enhance fashion heritage will integrate the creation that is expressed each season, like the Villa Noailles which has been in existence for 30 years.
She would like to thank Olivier Saillard for the work accomplished, with the help of Sylvie Roy, in charge of documentary studies at the Palais Galliera, Musée de la Ville de Paris and to greet all those, public and private, who contributed to it.