CHERRY CREEK FASHION — Spring Fashion Trends with Florence Mϋller at The Denver Art Museum

In this month’s CULTURED, we feature Florence Mϋller, the Curator of Textile Art & Fashion at the Denver Art Museum (DAM). Culture & Style Editor ANNIE BLOJ interviews Florence who was photographed at the DAM.

PHOTOGRAPHED BY ESTHER LEE LEACH // STYLING BY DANETTE STUCKEY

HAIR: MCKENZIE DAVIS FOR KENZE HAIR STUDIO // CLOTHING: MAX BOUTIQUE // FASHION ASSISTANT: JAIME ALICEN

Florence Muller at the Denver Art Museum in Cherry Creek Fashion Magazine

Annie Bloj: Florence, to say I am a big fan of yours is an understatement. You simply light up the room and bring such distinct energy to our city. I am so thrilled to work with you for this month’s Cherry Creek Fashion and get to know you a little bit better. You famously began your career by studying Art History at the Ecole du Louvre in Paris, and then got a master’s degree in art history and archeology from the University of Paris. How did you find yourself working at what is now the Paris Museum of Fashion and Textiles?

Florence Mϋller: In my late teens and early twenties I was very invested in my education. I was attending three different schools at once, while also looking for internships and part-time jobs in the fashion industry in Paris. I began working under fashion curator Yvonne Deslandres at the age of nineteen as her assistant while I was still an art history student. Yvonne was an incredible mentor, she had extensive knowledge regarding art history and fashion and she knew all of the designers of the time personally. Yvonne was an incredible networker who introduced me to many important people in the fashion industry at a young age.

I worked with Yvonne to create the fashion museum in the Louvre. As a child, I had always dreamed that fashion museums would exist someday, so it was truly a dream come true to work on the creation of one of the very first fashion museums in France.

AB: Was fashion something you had also been interested in all along? It seems to come so naturally to you.

FM: I was interested in art history first. Even as a young girl I would beg my parents to take me to visit museums rather than amusement parks. My uncle (my mother’s brother), Bernard de Montgolfier, was the director of the Musée Carnavalet, and because I showed such an interest in museums at a young age he would take me to openings and visits of provincial museums. My love of fashion stemmed from my passion for art history. In the museums, I was always drawn to and inspired by religious paintings and portraits, as I noticed the garments they saints and the Virgin Mary were adorned with were incredibly significant. I became very interested in costumes, theater, set design and photography as a result of this revelation.

Artwork: Rain Has No Father by El AnatsuiClothing: Dress & scarf- Dries Van Noten // Boots- Maison Margiela // Jewelry- stylist’s own — Artwork: Rain Has No Father by El Anatsui
Clothing: Dress & scarf- Dries Van Noten // Boots- Maison Margiela // Jewelry- stylist’s own

AB: You moved from working at the Museum to working for private companies such as Dior, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Chanel. What made you decide to work on the other side of the industry?

FM: After being the director and curator of UFAC in the fashion museum within the Louvre and before I became the Avenir Foundation Curator of textile art and fashion at the Denver Art Museum, I was an independent curator, a writer, a journalist and an advisor for luxury brands and designers. Working with designers provided me with a great opportunity to learn more about the fashion industry from the inside, an opportunity that I don’t believe many other museum curators get to have.

AB: You are known in the industry for being an arbiter of fashion history and your fascinating writing about the subject. Did you become a writer out of necessity because of your career path, or has writing always been a passion?

FM: Writing has not necessarily always been a lifelong passion of mine. Yes, I have written more than 30 publications on the history of fashion, but I did so mostly out of necessity for documenting the history of fashion that did not previously exist. My mentor Yvonne Deslandres, who at the time was an assistant for Francois Boucher, wrote the “fashion bible,” as we like to say, with Boucher. The book – Historie du Costume en Occident – published in 1996, was the first of its kind. I actually wrote the last chapter, as sadly Yvonne had passed away before she was able to complete the update of the book in the 1990s. With Yvonne, I wrote the first book in France on the history of Haute Couture, titled Histoire de la Mode au XXème Siècle.

Artwork: Infinity Screen Prototype for Lumina, Denver , CO by tres birds workshop

AB: What is your favorite part of starting a project, how do you conceptualize an exhibit?

FM: My favorite part of starting a new project is just that, the start. At the beginning I can dream up my ideal vision for an exhibition, there are never any roadblocks at the start. I always start out by writing a screenplay of my vision. I think of exhibitions, especially the larger ones, similar to a movie. I can see my vision and how it could be presented in this way. The groupings of objects come to life in my mind even at the beginning. From that initial vision, I then conceptualize, research, travel to see the objects in person, go through archives, collections, and materials to process the story and decide what exactly will become the finalized exhibition.

AB: Does your background in art history inform the way you design a new exhibition?

FM: Yes, absolutely. Many people do not think of fashion as a part of art history, but in fact, it plays a large part in the history of art. For any subject in a museum, any department or artwork, a knowledge of the vast history of art is important. Each object is part of a whole, to paint a complete picture is vital to understanding the work.

Dress- R13 // Jeans- Mother // Belt- Calleen Cordero // Boots- GANN // Vintage silver jewelry- Classic Facets Antique & Vintage Jewelry, Boulder // Hat- models own

AB: You’ve spoken about your excitement about coming to Denver to start something fresh with your position of Avenir Foundation Curator of Textile Art, Curator of Fashion at the Denver Art Museum. Now that you have been here for a little bit, have created a blockbuster exhibit with Dior, what is your take on Denver? How do you see it changing culturally and in terms of fashion? Has anything surprised you?

FM: The Denver Art Museum – the city’s art museum – has hosted these incredible, internationally renowned exhibitions, and I love that the people of Denver take such great pride in that. These are exhibitions that could be presented in New York or Los Angeles, but no, they landed here in Denver and I think that says a lot about the city’s changing cultural landscape.

AB: What in fashion is interesting to you these days? Do you see vintage pieces becoming even more sought after now that it is seen as a proponent of sustainability?

FM: Yes, vintage pieces have increasingly become a great phenomenon in the past two decades, and I certainly foresee the continuation of that. I remember writing an article in 1999 just as vintage pieces were becoming popular. The vintage resurgence in the late ‘90s was mainly a reaction to the industrial phenomenon; vintage pieces felt more special and one-of-a-kind. In 1999 I predicted that vintage was not just a fad, and certainly the sustainability factor is a large part of that.

AB: Your style is so distinctive, powerful, and colorful. How do you consider your look when getting ready to head out? Is there anything you are particularly excited about wearing for Spring?

FM: Thank you. You know, it is quite funny because when I was younger I used to set out my clothes the night before for the following day. Now, I like to see how I feel at the last moment before I leave my house before putting my look together. I like to think of my daily looks as costumes of sorts, and I am the actor. As I wait until the last minute to decide what to wear each day, I feel the same about looking forward to spring. I think I will wait to see how I feel when the season arrives.

Cherry Creek Fashion features Florence Muller

AB: Is there anything you can share with us about the current exhibitions you are working on with for the DAM?

FM: I am excited to share that the next exhibition I am working on at the DAM will be announced soon. What I can share is that it will bring the concepts of Paris and Hollywood together.

AB: How do you see the role of your department at the DAM playing out within the community, what is the legacy you hope to build?

FM: I am honored to be in this position at the DAM, as I feel it is important to present fashion as part of the art world to the community. As I mentioned previously, many people do not think of fashion in the same field of fine art, but I hope that through these exhibitions and presentations of the DAM’s incredible collection of textile art and fashion will open the eyes of people who might not have thought of fashion as a form of art before now.

AB: Florence, thank you so much for sharing your story and your insights with us. The impact that you’ve had on Denver has already been felt and we are all so excited to see what your iconic presence brings to our city’s culture.