Week 18: Musee du Louvre

From one Palais to another, this week I’m taking you to one of Paris’s (and, in fact, the world’s) most famous attraction: The Musée du Louvre.

The Palais du Louvre started out life as a fortress, built by Philip II in the 12^th century. Only the medieval foundations remain which you can see in the basement floor of the museum. The palace has been evolving and changing since the 16^th century, and was where the King lived until Louis XIV decided to move to Versailles in 1682 (but it remained a formal seat of power until the French Revolution in 1789).

Nowadays the Palace is entirely given over to the Musée du Louvre – one of the largest museums in the world, and the most visited into the bargain, with 15000 people on average choosing to visit every day.

The Louvre’s significance in the art world started in 1692 when it became home to the Academie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture  who organised the Salon (one of the first public art exhibitions) in 1699. It was officially turned into a museum in 1793 and the public were given free access 3 days a week. With nearly 35 000 objects from pre-history to the 21^st century, the Louvre’s collection is enormous and split into 8 departments (Egyptian Antiquities; Near Easter Antiquities; Etruscan, Greek and Roman Antiquities; Islamic Art; Sculpture; Decorative Arts; Paintings; Prints and Drawings). The most famous work, of course, is the (vastly overrated) Mona Lisa, though the giant pyramid attracts a tourist or two as well. Apparently (as of 2002) attendance at the Museum doubled upon completion of I. M. Pei’s glass masterpiece (glass-terpiece? No?) in 1988.

Surrounded by so many works of art, it makes sense that this week’s outfit was influenced by a strongly art-inspired collection. Dolce & Gabbana’s Ready-to-Wear Fall collection for 2013 is inspired by the golden mosaics of Sicily’s Cathedral de Monreale, and is swiftly becoming one of my all-time favourites. From the hand-beaded evening gowns, made to look like Byzantine and  Venetian mosaics, to the cardinal-red lace and brocade dresses, to the perfectly-tailored grey business-wear, everything about this collection was beautiful.

The name of the palace apparently comes from the Latin word Rubras meaning “red soil”. Goodness knows why, since there’s no soil to be seen as far as I could tell, but it is rather appropriate for this week’s colour scheme!

For this week’s outfit I decided to follow a similar colour palette to D+G and pick out some of the details in terms of hair and accessories, but otherwise not follow the collection completely. This was partly because I don’t think there’s a great amount of merit to be had in trying to copy a designer’s work directly, but more because I’ve left my goldbustier and Virgin Mary knickerbockers back in the UK.

Alors, I went with gold and red – regal colours befitting the palatial settings, and further emphasised by princess aspirations with this necklace worn as a crown. (My landlord had a field day when he saw that.) And, prompted by my good friends (guffaw) Messrs Dolce and Gabbana, I decided to give a beehive hairstyle another shot, in the hope that my hair had cooperatively grown a bit since Week 10’s pitiful attempt. 

To my dismay, I own almost nothing that is covered with beads (HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?) so I had to resign myself to settling for the woefully understated beautifully tasteful beaded epaulettes on this Oh My Love leotard. Whilst travelling between the Byzantine era and its mosaics, to the 21^st-century and its mass of jewels with which I adorned myself, I swung by another artistic era to get this Baroque patterned skirt and ta-da! Outfit complete.

Leotard - Oh My Love at Asos
Skirt - Vintage
Shoes - New Look
Necklace as Crown - H&M
Other Necklaces - New Look, H&M, Accessorize

And that’s it for this week folks – if you still fancy voting for me to become the next face of M+S in France then this is the link again. Go on, it would be hilarious if it happened. Also, I’m currently nursing a whopping  7 votes and everyone loves an underdog.