Mucem in Marseille unveils Mossi Traoré, a prodigy of multicultural haute couture

The Mucem in Marseille is presenting an exhibition dedicated to Mossi Traoré, the 2024 winner of the MMM endowment fund's call for projects by Maison Mode Méditerranée. The show runs from May 20 to November 16 on the ground floor of the J4 building. Traoré, a French designer of Malian origin, founded his label Mossi and shows twice a year at Paris Fashion Week. He also established the Les Ateliers d'Alix school in Villiers-sur-Marne, named after Madame Grès, offering a three-year haute couture curriculum with instructors from Chanel and Loris Azzaro. His aesthetic is characterized by black-and-white palettes, architectural silhouettes, and a fusion of ancestral craftsmanship with innovative materials like Japanese denim, rubber, charcoal, and recycled mattress fibers. Traoré draws inspiration from dance, sport, music, painting, and photography, collaborating with artists such as dancers Léonore Baulac and Marie-Agnès Gillot, sculptor Simone Pheulpin, and Korean artists Lee Bae and Lee Bul. The exhibition also features his reinterpretation of a Breton bragou-braz from the 18th century and an embroidered shirt from Croatia. Curator Julia Ferloni-Grandval describes him as a bridge between pop and scholarly culture. Traoré aims to democratize fashion and has plans to design for footballers.