Maurizio Galante & Tal Lancman : Haute Couture, Design, Art
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Maurizio Galante & Tal Lancman : Haute Couture, Design, Art
135 Quai du Commerce - 62100 CALAIS
telephone
+33 3 21 00 42 30
Website
mba.calais.fr
Openings
A double exposure
From June 13, 2026, Calais is taking a bold step. For the first time, the Museum of Fine Arts and the City of Lace and Fashion They unite their worlds for a joint exhibition: Maurizio Galante & Tal Lancman: Haute Couture, Design, Art. A rare event, in two locations, to immerse oneself in a world where lace converses with Haute Couture, where pearls and ceramics mingle, where the object becomes sculpture and every detail tells the story of the world's beauty.
Proof of its excellence, this exhibition has been awarded the prestigious "Exhibition of National Interest" label by the Ministry of Culture. This is the third time the Cité de la Dentelle et de la Mode (City of Lace and Fashion) has received this distinction, following the exhibitions dedicated to Hubert de Givenchy (2017) and Cristóbal Balenciaga (2015).
©Stephane Ribeiro Da Ascencao 
©Stephane Ribeiro Da Ascencao 
Exhibition of National Interest
Proof of its excellence, this exhibition has been awarded the prestigious "Exhibition of National Interest" label by the Ministry of Culture. This is the third time the Cité de la Dentelle et de la Mode (City of Lace and Fashion) has received this distinction, following the exhibitions dedicated to Hubert de Givenchy (2017) and Cristóbal Balenciaga (2015).
©Stephane Ribeiro Da Ascencao 
©Stephane Ribeiro Da Ascencao Two artists, one fascinating universe
The duo has created a multifaceted body of work, full of humor, delicacy, and curiosity. Since the 1990s, Maurizio Galante has imagined Haute Couture silhouettes that seem to vibrate, while Tal Lancman creates design objects that awaken our senses. Their work invites wonder as much as conversation: each piece whispers a secret, provokes a smile, or establishes an immediate connection.
Maurizio Galante
He initially explored architecture before dedicating himself to fashion. Based in Paris since 1996 and a member of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, he cultivates a style that blends rigor and poetry, tradition and modernity. His creations are featured in the permanent collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs and the Musée Galliera in Paris, the Kyoto Costume Institute in Japan, the MoMA in New York, and the MUDAM in Luxembourg. In 2008, he was awarded the Order of Arts and Letters for his influence on fashion.
©Stephane Ribeiro Da Ascencao 
©Stephane Ribeiro Da Ascencao Tal Lancman
A designer and trend expert, he led the creation of the international magazine Textile View, a leading publication in design and lifestyle, for 17 years. His approach explores the connections between fashion, architecture, and applied arts. With an analytical yet sensitive eye, he transforms each discipline into a source of creativity. Partners since 2003, they present their projects worldwide. Their collaboration, fueled by intuition and freedom, reinvents artisanal skills, propelling them toward elegant and contemporary forms. In 2025, he was named a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters by the Ministry of Culture.
©Stephane Ribeiro Da Ascencao 
Tal & Maurizio
We are often described as free spirits. But we strongly believe in an art connected to beauty. Where the object, and the beauty of the object itself, triggers something. The object may be completely useless, and yet so useful simply for its beauty.
The “conversation room”
An intention at the heart of every object
Since 2003, Maurizio Galante and Tal Lancman have been working together. Their method is not the division of roles, but the layering of cultures, know-how and imaginations.
The concept of a “conversation piece” structures the entire exhibition in its two parts. It first refers to the object itself, whether it takes the form of a haute couture garment, a piece of furniture, or a sculpture: a piece born from the dialogue between distinct worlds. It also refers to the idea that each object is intentionally designed to stimulate conversation, to sharpen perception, to draw curiosity into the space. This dual meaning gives the exhibition a coherence that a simple theme alone could not achieve. One does not come to see a retrospective. One enters into a conversation.
©Stephane Ribeiro Da Ascencao Exhibition curator: Lydia Kamitsis
The exhibition is conceived by Lydia Kamitsis, a fashion historian, author, and independent curator. A research director at the Sorbonne for twenty years, she supported the emergence of the first generations of researchers and specialists in clothing heritage. She has curated nearly twenty-eight exhibitions, authored twenty books and catalogues, and published over eighty articles in edited volumes and specialized journals. She is notably the author of “The Art of Weaving Dreams: Calais-Caudry Lace” (2021). A bilingual (French-English) catalogue is published by Éditions Liénart on the occasion of the exhibition, available at the bookshop of the Cité de la Dentelle.
Two places, two acts
At the City of Lace and Fashion,
Sixty Haute Couture garments and as many design objects engage in a dialogue within a black space, each display case built around a theme, a motif, a color. The atrium opens onto a spectacular installation: 'Tiger Cloud', a life-size tiger silhouette composed of 2,500 hand-cut sheets of tulle assembled with beads, created at the invitation of the Baccarat crystalworks in 2009. A long dress made of organza ribbons and glass beads (2002), presented flat on a wall like an abstract painting, introduces the principle that structures the entire exhibition: the ongoing dialogue between Haute Couture garments and design objects.
Visit the City of Lace
©Stephane Ribeiro Da Ascencao At the Museum of Fine Arts,
The atmosphere changes dramatically. In a stark white, light-filled environment, twenty-one portraits of parrot tulips created by Tal Lancman are presented in both photographic and video formats. Nature also informs the exhibition through a series of five ceramic or porcelain figurines from the first half of the 20th century, entirely embroidered with organza feathers and glass beads. Each piece represents between 300 and 350 hours of work.
Visit the Museum of Fine Arts
©Stephane Ribeiro Da Ascencao 
©Stephane Ribeiro Da Ascencao Like a conversation between two museums
'White box' & 'Black box': two complementary spaces
The exhibition is not spread across two museums by chance. City of Lace and Fashion It showcases the Haute Couture work of Maurizio Galante because lace is, by nature, a luxury item, and the venue dedicates a large part of its space to contemporary fashion. Museum of Fine Arts, oriented towards modern and contemporary creation, welcomes the artistic research of the duo because it is part of that tradition.
©Stephane Ribeiro Da Ascencao Journeying through artistic research
The boundary between the two spaces is physical, yet it creates connections. It reflects a fundamental distinction that the exhibition takes care to clarify: artistic research in fashion is called Haute Couture, an art form recognized and rigorously regulated by the French Ministry of Finance, distinct from ready-to-wear fashion. Maurizio Galante has been a member of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture since moving to Paris in 1996. The parallels between the two parts of the exhibition are evident: textile research is juxtaposed with elements borrowed from the applied arts, architecture, and nature. Subtle nods to the permanent collections of both venues can be discerned.
©Stephane Ribeiro Da Ascencao 
Let's recap!
From June 13, 2026 to January 3, 2027, the two museums in Calais will form a unique creative space, where Haute Couture, design, and art interact from one venue to the other. Allow half a day to explore both locations fully.