Déboutonner La Mode

Exhibition in Paris, Musée des arts décoratifs, from February 10 to July 19, 2015

There are objects with which we maintain a delicate relationship, between awareness and emotion. In more ways than one, the button is one of them, one that we sometimes keep, without really knowing why, at the bottom of a pocket or in a box. On a garment, whether male or female, its role is far from trivial: an element that structures the balance of shapes, it resonates with a line, that of a buttonhole, a seam or the garment itself. The history of the button reveals many other unknown aspects. Whether it is modest and useful or precious and decorative, its place evolves over time in accordance with the rules of etiquette and fashion.