In 1989, the question arose of choosing a location for the Musée de la Mode. Together with the City of Marseille, we chose the Château Borély. We asked Jean Michel Wilmotte, a young architect, to design the Chanel exhibition and an extension project to house the Museum's future collections in a contemporary structure.
After several rounds of consultation, the city suggested we submit a cultural project as part of the "Plan Canebière" urban development project in Marseilles. The Board of Directors of the Institut Mode Méditerranée (IMM) and its President, Azzedine Alaïa, immediately embraced the idea of contributing to the revitalization of this deserted thoroughfare, and setting up a fashion space open to several components of our industry. In return, our association had to provide the necessary funding for the renovation of this Haussmann building at 11 La Canebière, entrusted to architect Jean Michel Wilmotte. Over a period of several months, with the model of our project in hand, I met the Minister of Culture, Jack Lang, and the Presidents of the local authorities, Jean Claude Gaudin and Lucien Weygand. To secure their financial commitment, I decided to present my project to the President of the Republic, François Mitterrand, proposing that it become a decentralized state project. This collective effort was inspiring. It was approved because it was part of the Canebière plan and would be financed mainly by the State and the three local authorities. The architecture is a perfect blend of a Haussmann building and a renovation by Jean Michel Wilmotte.
Unique in France, for thirty years it became the meeting point between public and private initiative, between professionals and the general public, between creation, industry and commerce.
In 2013, the city transferred a fashion department to the Château Borély, now the Musée des Arts Décoratifs de la Faïence et de la Mode.
