Palais Galliera

The Société de l’Histoire du Costume (SHC) was founded in 1907 by painter, historian, and collector Maurice Leloir. In 1920, the SHC donated its 2,000-item collection to Paris, temporarily housed at the Musée Carnavalet. After Leloir’s death in 1940, Georges-Gustave Toudouze took over, but despite rising interest in costumes, a permanent museum was still lacking. In the early 1950s, the Taylor Foundation helped establish a temporary museum at Cercle Volney, leading to the creation of a dedicated costume museum at the Musée Carnavalet in 1954. By 1956, the museum moved to the Musée d’Art Moderne but closed in 1971 due to structural issues, prompting a move to the Palais Galliera in 1977. The museum evolved, becoming the Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris in 1997. After a 2009 closure for compliance upgrades, it reopened in 2013 as the Palais Galliera.