An invitation-only event in Paris's Upper Marais offers the first public glimpse of Jean-Denis Franoux's vast collection of 25,000 fashion pieces, spanning from the 19th century to today. The 56-year-old fashion professor and former designer has structured the archive as an endowment fund named Regarderobes to protect it from sale and share it with educational institutions. Around 150 handpicked items, including 50 complete looks, are on display through Saturday.
Jean-Denis Franoux, a professor at Studio Berçot and designer from 1994 to 2001, began collecting as a child with perfume bottles before turning to clothes. His passion led him to acquire rarities from designers like John Galliano, Comme des Garçons, Yohji Yamamoto, Martin Margiela, Jean Paul Gaultier, Madeleine Vionnet, Schiaparelli, Balenciaga, Madame Grès, and Jeanne Lanvin. Recent highlights include a near-mint Balenciaga haute couture gown from winter 1938 bought on Vinted in Spain and over 400 original Vionnet toiles preserved since 1939. Franoux described the toiles as 'time machines' and bought them to protect them from counterfeiters while aiding his students, as he told Vogue in a recent interview at his Paris apartment, where hundreds of pieces line racks and boxes stack to the ceiling. The rest of the collection is stored near his hometown of Epinal in eastern France. The Regarderobes event features pieces from mid-1980s Galliano, Yamamoto, and Comme des Garçons, alongside 1930s silhouettes from Hermès and Schiaparelli, 1940s and 1960s Balenciaga and Balmain, and 1970s to 1990s Chloé, Gaultier, and Margiela. Franoux emphasized his focus on cut and construction, saying, 'My passion is for clothes, even more than fashion. I need to understand the cut and construction.' He plans dynamic exhibitions with institutions, creating unexpected connections like pairing a 1968 Balenciaga dress with a 1987 Yohji Yamamoto skirt. As an endowment fund, Regarderobes ensures the collection remains intact and accessible, advancing fashion education without commercialization.
