Inside The Lesage: 100 Years Of Fashion And Decoration Exhibition
Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the embroidery studio Lesage, this exhibition by Chanel is an ode to the beauty and relevance of age-old crafts.
Headed to Paris this holiday season to soak in its lush fashion heritage? Put Le19M – the striking cultural centre opened by Chanel in 2021 to house 11 of the artisanal workshops, or metiers d’Art, it owns – on your itinerary.
Till Jan 5, 2025, the super complex located in the 19th arrondissement is staging Lesage: 100 Years Of Fashion And Decoration at its open-to-all exhibition space, La Galerie du 19M. For those unfamiliar with the name, think of Lesage this way: Without it, Chanel’s tweed jackets might not be the same, and the world of fashion would lose much of its sparkle.
Lesage: 100 Years Of Fashion And Decoration is the first exhibition focused on a single metiers d’Art to be staged at Le19M – the hub started by Chanel in Paris’ 19th arrondissement to house several of these craft ateliers that the maison owns.
Founded by Albert and Marie-Louise Lesage in 1924, it’s an embroidery studio known for its impeccable savoir-faire and inventive techniques (it came up with a shading system to create a seamless ombre effect, for instance). This would explain its power list of clients throughout its history: from Elsa Schiaparelli, to Jean-Paul Gaultier and Thierry Mugler, to, yes, Chanel, which has been collaborating closely with it to create its signature tweeds since the late ’90s.
In 2002, Chanel acquired Lesage through its subsidiary Paraffection, which was set up 17 years earlier with the primary goal of preserving and promoting the craft, skills and legacy of artisanal workshops that are at risk of being forgotten or disappearing. The launch of Le19M can be said to be the brand’s most ambitious endeavour yet in this undertaking, and Lesage: 100 Years Of Fashion And Decoration is the first exhibition on site that’s focused on a sole atelier – one of the latest in a string of events held to celebrate the centennial anniversary of Lesage this year.
The house of Chanel has been working closely with the embroidery studio Lesage since the late ’90s to create its signature artisanal tweed fabric.
The showcase, which is organised into eight sections, provides a concise and intimate look at the impact and influence of Lesage. Naturally, there’s a whole section displaying an array of exquisitely beaded looks from Chanel, many of which are from the Karl Lagerfeld era. It was he who introduced the maison’s annual Metiers d’Art show in 2002 to spotlight the work of its ateliers (see the latest here), and Lesage (as with all the other studios owned by Chanel) is central to it as well as the brand’s twice-yearly couture collections.
Paris-Byzance Metiers d’Art collection, Spring Summer 1983 haute couture collection, and Spring Summer 1986 haute couture collection, all of which were designed by the late Karl Lagerfled.
To truly help metiers d’Art such as Lesage stay alive and relevant, though, Chanel knows not to gatekeep – every atelier has always been able to work freely with other brands. (To quote our guide, speaking with different creative directors helps broaden one’s vision.) Lesage: 100 Years Of Fashion And Decoration encapsulates the breadth of what Lesage has done to breathtaking effect.
An immersive video installation featuring blown-up, animated 3D scans of embroidery samples, for example, deconstructs these ornate tapestries virtually and in a dreamlike manner, offering a hypnotic and eye-opening way of exploring their details. And vintage fashion enthusiasts would no doubt be thrilled by the range of historical garments and related paraphernalia on display.
See the ornate embroidery of Lesage like never before in an immersive video installation at the Lesage: 100 Years Of Fashion And Decoration exhibition at Le19M.
Highlights include a tulle overskirt from Madeleine Vionnet’s Fall Winter 1936 collection decorated with tiers of ruched blooms by Lesage, and Yves Saint Laurent’s fabric samples and sketches from the late ’80s when he emulated the motifs of paintings by the likes of Van Gogh and tasked Lesage to enliven them with all-over beadwork. (According to the exhibition text, this proved to be a significant challenge for the studio, but also cemented a close creative bond between its second-generation owner Francois Lesage and the designer.)
The “Embroidering Paintings” section of Lesage: 100 Years Of Fashion And Decoration at Le19M showcases Yves Saint Laurent’s obsession with the paintings of art masters such as Van Gogh during the late ’80s, and how he turned to Lesage to help bring his recreations of them to life.
Perhaps even more surprising are the exhibits of Lesage’s collaborations with younger names, such as the Latvian artists Laima Jurca and Marta Veinberga. This playful, pop culture-loving duo commissioned the atelier to embellish the graphic-heavy outfits it presented at the 36th Hyeres International Festival of Fashion, Photography and Fashion Accessories four years ago with the likes of jewels, sequins and cabochons.
Meanwhile, Anatomy Of A Gisant Sculpture – a work by the 33-year-old French textile artist Jeanne Vicerial done in collaboration with Hubert Barrere, the artistic director of Maison Lesage – is bound to turn heads. Inspired by a reclining effigy representative of a dead or dying person in mediaeval sculpture (gisant is French for lying down), it’s composed of a life-sized, all-black figure done in Vicerial’s signature weave and colourful, glistening beadwork by Lesage running down its torso to illustrate organs.
The work of French textile artist Jeanne Vicerial and Lesage creative director Hubert Barrere is at once macabre and magical with Lesage coming up with colourful, floral beadwork to represent the organs of a dying effigy.
If you prefer something more heartwarming, there’s a gallery wall at the end of the exhibition filled with photographs of Lesage staff from across the decades. Designed casually not unlike a display board one would find at an office or school party, it’s a fun and fitting close considering what ultimately makes Lesage (and all metiers d’Art) is the human touch.