A spring breeze blows through the Musée Provençal du Costume et du Bijou in Grasse, where its most beautiful silhouettes will bloom in March. Embroidered, printed, or woven, delicate flowers grace the dresses and costumes in the colors of Provence.
Founded twenty-eight years ago, the museum houses the beloved collections of Hélène Costa, the result of a lifelong passion carried on today by her three daughters. Among these treasures is a significant number of floral representations dating back to the 18th century. In the heart of the Grasse region, where flowers and fragrances reign supreme, this new exhibition honors Hélène Costa, the museum’s founder, a passionate botanist who loved to compose elegant bouquets with flowers from her garden, creating fashion silhouettes.
This exhibition, centered around flowers, pays tribute to the inventiveness of artisans and the talent of designers. It is a journey through the centuries where stylistic changes celebrate nature. Alongside precious fabrics, jewelry and amusing adornments at the intersection of the mineral and plant worlds are also on display. Mille-fleurs, herbs, herbariums, gardeners, and sowing are all terms borrowed from botanical jargon to describe a type of motif placement. Thanks to a colorful scenography, the exhibition brings to life an idealized and fantasized nature.
