Paris Exhibition Shines a Light on Gold Clothes
PARIS — Is there a more potent way to telegraph luxury than pure gold?
A new exhibition in Paris, titled “Golden Thread,” shows how the precious metal has been used in clothing from North Africa to the Far East as far back as five millennia B.C., with a display of wedding gowns, ceremonial robes, jackets and kimonos interspersed with more recent creations by Chinese designer Guo Pei, a sponsor of the show.
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A display of meteorites set under a chandelier of metallic sequins is juxtaposed with a video of astrophysicist Jérôme Margueron explaining how gold originates from cosmic events like supernovae and neutron star collisions.
“I was amazed to discover that to understand the history of gold, you had to look to the sky. I had no idea,” Hana Al Banna-Chidiac, lead curator of the exhibition at the Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, said during a preview visit.
The earliest examples of wearable gold are amulets found in prehistoric graves in Bulgaria, while the first use of gold braiding can be traced back to a royal palace in ancient Syria, she said.
Traditionally a symbol of wealth and power, gold has been used to embellish fabrics using a variety of techniques, some of which are highlighted by microscope views diving deep into textiles from China and India — some stamped, others woven.
“Gold is malleable, gold can stretch, gold does not oxidize, so it’s an extraordinary material that has played a very important role in the history of humankind,” said Al Banna-Chidiac.
“People glued gold leaf onto leather and cut it out. They made threads from animal intestines in Andalusia, and all the way to Germany. In Italy, goldsmiths and weavers tried to find alternatives for working with gold, until the invention of Lurex in 1946,” she reeled off.
The exhibition also highlights gold substitutes used in the past, such as sea silk made from the filaments secreted by the Pinna nobilis, a type of large saltwater clam; golden spider silk from Madagascar, and yellow cocoons produced by a type of silkworm in Cambodia.
It ends with a display of 40 samples from embroiderer Lesage, alongside a dress from Dior’s Egyptian-themed spring 2004 haute couture collection by John Galliano, and a richly embellished 1996 dress by Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel.
The theme appears to be striking a chord. The show coincides with the “Solid Gold” exhibit running at the Brooklyn Museum until July 6, and comes on the heels of “Gold: Les Ors d’Yves Saint Laurent,” which wrapped at the Yves Saint Laurent Museum in Paris in 2023.
But Al Banna-Chidiac argued the scope of this showcase is unprecedented, with outfits from across North Africa, the Middle East and Asia. “It’s an exhibition that combines archaeology, ethnology, fashion and contemporary design,” she said.
Some items, such as a Japanese wedding kimono and a 14th-century chasuble, are so fragile they can only be displayed in low light.
At the other end of the spectrum are the designs by Pei, known for maximalist creations like the canary-colored dress with a huge train that Rihanna wore to the Met Gala in 2015.
The Chinese couturier contributed 14 pieces, including some made specifically for the exhibition. A traditional Chinese men’s wedding outfit incorporates superfine threads made from 9-karat and 14-karat gold, while a dragon-motif dress from 2010 is made from weighty metallic strands, said the designer, speaking through an interpreter.
Pei had previously presented a selection of designs at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in 2015, but she said this display was different, as her outfits are shown in dialogue with historical creations.
For instance, a 2008 look with a tiered skirt inspired by the Temple of Heaven in Beijing comes with a bolero jacket that echoes the traditional Tunisian wedding outfits displayed next to it.
“Here, my designs are part of a common thread that runs through the entire exhibition,” she told WWD. “Therefore the meaning is completely different, and it puts my pieces into a historical context.”
While gold was traditionally reserved only for the emperor, the male head of China, Pei has made it one of her signatures. Pausing in front of a coat tufted with white ostrich feathers, she noted the role of museums in feeding the imagination of designers.
“There are of course Chinese elements in these embroideries, but not only. It takes us back to the Silk Road, which was also a vector of influences between cultures and populations and which I wanted to reflect here, which is to say a form of inspiration that comes from all four corners of the world,” Pei explained.
“Gold knows no boundaries, whether in terms of time or geographical location. What this exhibition shows us is the history of humanity with a capital H around this common bond that is gold,” she said.
Launch Gallery: Inside the "Golden Thread" Exhibition In Paris
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