What's on in Paris
Irving Penn photograph of a Balenciaga rose dress, from the PENN & FASHION exhibition

Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP)Le Marais

PENN & FASHION

Now showing30 September 2026 – 17 January 2027€13

A chronological retrospective of Irving Penn's fashion photography from 1947 to 2008, spanning his Parisian haute couture images of the 1950s through collaborations with Issey Miyake, John Galliano and Chanel, drawn from the MEP and Nicola Erni collections.

Book tickets Exhibition website

More in Paris

Irving Penn photographed Issey Miyake's clothes for years, yet he never went to a Miyake show and Miyake never set foot in Penn's studio. The MEP gives that long-distance partnership a whole room on the second floor, and ends the show with a short cartoon about the 1994 collection, narrated by Midori Kitamura of the Miyake Design Studio.

You walk in on 1950s Paris couture: Dior and Balenciaga worn by Lisa Fonssagrives and Jean Patchett. From there it runs in order to 2008, through Ungaro and Courrèges on Marisa Berenson and Lauren Hutton, Saint Laurent and Lagerfeld, then colour for Galliano, Lacroix and Chanel, and Penn's Vogue beauty pages. He made his own prints, often in platinum-palladium. It opened during Paris Fashion Week, and this is the Dior you can see without being on anyone's guest list.

franceinfo called the photographs "sublime" and the closing film "fabulous". Tickets are €13 on site (€14 online), €8 reduced, free under 12. Thursdays run until 10pm.

Look for

  • The Miyake room

    On the second floor, a whole room of Penn's photographs of Issey Miyake's sculptural garments, shot against plain backgrounds under neutral light.

  • The 1994 cartoon

    At the end of the route, a short animated film on Miyake's 1994 collection, with Midori Kitamura's voice explaining how the two men worked together.

  • Saint Laurent's Cubist cape

    Look for Penn's 1988 Paris photograph of an embroidered Yves Saint Laurent cape whose design borrows from Braque.

  • Chanel's feather headpieces

    In the colour work of Penn's last three decades, Chanel feather headpieces hang alongside Galliano gowns and Lacroix's opulent designs.

  • Nicole Kidman in Gaultier

    Among the later pictures, Nicole Kidman wears Jean Paul Gaultier haute couture.

Good for

  • Evening Visits
  • Nerding Out
  • Rainy Days

Skip if

You came for Penn's celebrity portraits and still lifes: this show sticks to fashion and beauty.

With kids

Under-12s get in free, and the Petite Galerie's EVERYDAY CLOTHES, a show for young visitors about the creases, stains and mends in ordinary clothes, runs alongside it. Family guided tours cost €15 per adult and €5 per child.

Also at Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP)

On now nearby

Nearby

Image credits

9

Your image? Ask us to correct or remove it.