Typically, those who don’t pay much attention to Paris men’s week are keenly interested in what immediately follows: haute couture! This season, it begins the very next day. So we thought, with both of them coming up, now would be a good time to tell you about a little exhibition at MoMu in Antwerp—even if it doesn’t open until March.

During the 1950s and 60s, the most elite of elite couturiers—Christian Dior, Hubert de Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent, Cristóbal Balenciaga—got their finest fabrics from Abraham, a Swiss company whose particular métier was printing silk. MoMu’s exhibition, Silks & Prints from the Abraham Archives: Couture in Colour, tells the vibrant story of the not-so-neutrals Swiss firm, as well as European couture as a whole, through some of the most exquisite fabrics of the 20th Century. Complementing the old guard is an array of pieces by contemporary designers, including print masters Dries Van Noten and Diane von Furstenberg.

Silks & Prints from the Abraham Archives: Couture in Colour, March 13 – August 11, 2013, MoMu, Nationalestraat 28, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium