Image: Rébecca Leger and I at a café in Paris, 2018.
Evoking history and spirit at Palais Galliera.
Rébecca Leger works with the costume and textile collection at Palais Galliera, a famous and historic fashion museum in Paris. She considers herself a custodian of the collection, offering beauty and knowledge to the public through the museum’s exhibitions, while taking care of the fragile and historic garments. Rébecca works to display the pieces in line with the curator’s narrative and also interpreting the unique spirit of each designer and the history of the garment.
Rébecca has a background in theatre and costume. She entered into the world of vintage fashion under the mentorship of the late Mary Vaudoyer, a private collector and pioneering writer/researcher on couture and vintage clothing. Rebecca worked with Mary to create her seminal book, “Le Livre de la Haute Couture” (The Book of Haute Couture).
In this episode:
- Rébecca was attracted to textiles from childhood.
- She began her career in costume and dressing. Working for over 10 years in theatre, ballet, and opera in Paris.
- She began working for private collector, Mary Vaudoyer, to prepare her vintage couture collection for a sale at Sotherby’s in Monte Carlo.
- Buyers included Diana Vreeland and Guillaume Garnier, then director of Palais Galliera.
- Mary taught Rébecca how to examine vintage garments and how to look for important details in each piece.
- Studying vintage is also about understanding the spirit of the designer and the feeling of wearing the piece.
- Rébecca helped Mary prepare for a second sale of her collection.
- Mary and Rébecca created an important reference book cataloguing the collection and documenting the labels and history of the couture houses, “Le Livre de la Haute Couture”.
- Rébecca was drawn to conservation and went to work at Palais Galliera.
- Her work involves taking care of the collection, mounting exhibitions, and travelling with the pieces when exhibitions go on tour.
- Fashion and costume is made from organic material which deteriorates and decays. It is a challenge to preserve and display the pieces.
- Palais Galliera collection began with French painter, Maurice Leloir, who collected vintage costume for his models to wear for his paintings. He was a natural conservator and collector.
- Rébecca works to display the silhouette of garments as beautifully as possible. Respecting the fragility of the piece and the era of its creation.
- She wants to show beauty to the public — to teach and entertain.
- Contemporary designers come to research and view pieces in the museum’s collection.
Coda (35m40s)– a little more about Mary…
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Image: (left) Doeuillet-Doucet evening dress, 1929, from “Le Livre de la Haute Couture”, (right) Mary Vaudoyer.