Musée de la chemiserie et de l'élégance masculine, History and fashion museum in Argenton-sur-Creuse, France
The Musée de la chemiserie et de l'élégance masculine is a history and fashion museum in Argenton-sur-Creuse, a small town in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France. It occupies a U-shaped building with large windows and brick walls that was once a tannery and later a mechanized shirt factory.
The museum opened to the public in 1993 in a former tannery, a large U-shaped building with shed roofs, after the association AMICL was founded in 1981 by Jean-René and Solange Gravereaux to save the textile memory of the Berry. The building had housed the Brillaud workshop since 1 January 1989, and the museum came under the direction of the Musées de France on 21 December 1990. Since 1 November 2021 it has shared a director, Nathalie Gaillard, with the Argentomagus archaeological museum.
The museum's name gained "men's elegance" as collecting widened from industrial machines and tools to clothing, accessories and men's fashion. It traces men's dress from the Middle Ages to the present. The association behind it gathered objects from workshops such as Rousseau and Bigrat in Argenton, Bazin in Saint-Marcel and the Cent mille chemises factory in Châteauroux.
The museum occupies a former tannery, a large U-shaped building with shed roofs, in Argenton-sur-Creuse. The entrance marked "ACCUEIL" is reached by metal steps beside the facade bearing the blue "MUSÉE de la CHEMISERIE" lettering. Since 1 November 2021 it shares a director and a combined ticket with the Argentomagus archaeological site museum, so both can be visited on one ticket.
The building began as a tannery before becoming the Brillaud workshop, and its U-shaped plan with sawtooth roofs still shows this industrial past. The museum opened to the public in 1993, four years after moving into the renovated workshop in 1989. Since November 2021 it has shared a director, Nathalie Gaillard, with the Argentomagus archaeological site museum, and one ticket covers both.
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