La mode au Moyen Âge — fashion in the late Middle Ages at the Tour Jean sans Peur, Paris, until 7 March 2027

The Tour Jean sans Peur on the rue Étienne Marcel is the last standing piece of the Paris residence of the dukes of Burgundy. Jean I, duke of Burgundy and known as Jean sans Peur, John the Fearless, had it built in 1409–11, after the murder of his rival Louis d’Orléans in 1407, against the city wall of Philippe Auguste. Its great spiral staircase rises under a carved vault of about 1410 in which oak branches, hops and hawthorn grow out of a central pot. The tower belongs to the City of Paris and is run by the Association des Amis de la tour Jean sans Peur, which has opened it to the public since 1999 and mounts exhibitions on the everyday life of the Middle Ages on its five levels.

The exhibition on show until 7 March 2027, La mode au Moyen Âge, follows the changing silhouette of the late Middle Ages from the tips of the poulaines, the long pointed shoes, to the point of the chaperon, the hood. In the tower’s reading, the aristocracy of the period drove a renewal and a variety in clothes and accessories that were the beginnings of fashion as we know it. The curator is Nadège Gauffre Fayolle, an independent researcher on medieval dress and a member of AFET.

Alongside it, and to the same date, La place du Louvre tells the history of the square between the Louvre colonnade, the church of Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois and the former town hall of the 1st arrondissement, laid out in 1853 and now being redesigned within the Louvre Renaissance project. Its curators are Rémi Rivière, founder of the tower’s association, and Anne Delaplace of the CNRS laboratory Ausonius. The admission ticket covers the tower and both exhibitions.

Programme

• Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 October 2026, 3 pm — guided visit of the tower (12 euros, reduced 8 euros; booking by email, or come from 2 pm for a place)
• Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 October 2026, 3 pm — guided visit of the tower
• Autumn 2026 — a cycle of lectures on medieval fashion, on Tuesdays at 6 pm (9 euros for a first lecture, 7 euros thereafter); the lectures of 22 and 29 September were given by Sophie Jolivet, on dress at the court of Philippe le Bon, and by Danièle Alexandre-Bidon, on medieval inspiration in fashion from the Belle Époque to today. The full programme is published by the tower.

Practical details

• When: until 7 March 2027; Wednesday to Sunday, 1.30 pm – 6 pm, without booking for individual visitors. Tuesday afternoons and Thursday and Friday mornings are reserved for groups by booking.
• Where: Tour Jean sans Peur, 20 rue Étienne Marcel, 75002 Paris, France — Métro line 4 (Étienne Marcel), RER A, B or D (Les Halles)
• Admission: 7 euros, reduced 5 euros, including the tower and both exhibitions; guided visit 12 euros, reduced 8 euros
• Organised by: Association des Amis de la tour Jean sans Peur
• Time needed: about an hour and a half; the climb goes up in stages, with a room to visit every fifteen to twenty steps and chairs in each room
• Information: by email in preference to the telephone, which the association says receives messages badly at present

Cultural Heritage Online lists this exhibition for readers following medieval Paris and the history of dress.