Chanel and the Roaring Twenties on the Riviera: Fashion, Art and Vision at NMNM
Coco Chanel and the Roaring Twenties: A Journey through Style, the Body and Modernity in Monaco
The Nouveau Musée National de Monaco – Villa Paloma presents a must-see exhibition: “Les Années folles de Coco Chanel”, on view from June 19 to October 5, 2025. The show dives into the bold creative production of Gabrielle Chanel on the French Riviera during the 1920s, a decade of artistic ferment and social transformation.
Curated by Célia Bernasconi, the exhibition unfolds along three key thematic paths:
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Outdoor living and the rise of seaside leisure, which influenced Chanel’s creation of practical, elegant clothing;
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The influence of the Ballets Russes and Slavic aesthetics, central to the era’s visual richness;
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The invention of the “Riviera style”, where fashion meets climate, freedom and modern elegance.
200 Works Tell the Story of an Aesthetic Revolution
This exhibition offers a unique dialogue between fashion and modern art. Featuring more than 200 objects, it presents 30 garments and accessories by Chanel in conversation with 40 works by major modernist figures including Picasso, Kees Van Dongen, Marie Laurencin, Jean Cocteau, Sonia Delaunay, Natalia Goncharova, and Alexandra Exter.
Iconic photographs by Man Ray, Edward Steichen, Dora Kallmus, and Roger Schall further enrich this visual journey through a transformative era.
Chanel as Visionary and Muse
The exhibition pays tribute to Chanel’s radical vision of the “new woman” — free, mobile, bold. Her minimalist yet refined aesthetic merges with avant-garde art, shaping a new femininity rooted in autonomy and movement.
Contemporary Dialogue: Chloé Royer and the Metamorphosis of the Female Body
Echoing Chanel’s legacy, contemporary artist Chloé Royer (born 1989) presents “Of Limbs and Other Things”, a series of 20 works, including several specially created for the show. Through sculptural forms and fragments, Royer explores the metamorphosis of the female body as material and memory.
A Cultural Journey through Fashion, Art, and the Riviera
“Les Années folles de Coco Chanel” is not just an exhibition — it’s a cultural narrative, an immersive journey into the birth of a new aesthetic language that reshaped both fashion and art, and continues to inspire to this day.
