Occultism and High Fashion, a Long History

Occultism has long maintained a discreet but tenacious relationship with French haute couture. In France in particular, many fashion figures have been fascinated by astrology, witchcraft, or lucky talismans. Here is the story.

Mysticism at the French Court

As early as the Renaissance, the French nobility showed an attraction to esotericism that already foreshadowed certain links between fashion and occultism. Catherine de Medici, queen of France in the 16th century, regularly consulted astrologers and soothsayers, including the famous Nostradamus, to guide her decisions. Nicknamed by some “the black queen” because of her reputation as a poisoner and an initiate of the occult arts, Catherine introduced an Italian fascination with astrology and alchemy to the court. Although her clothing choices mainly reflected Florentine artistic influence, her taste for predictions and talismans spread among the elites. A century later, under the reign of Louis XIV, this attraction took a darker turn with the Affair of the Poisons. This notorious scandal revealed that part of the aristocracy - despite being the epitome of refinement - secretly engaged in black masses and made pacts with sorcerers. The famous Marquise de Montespan, the Sun King’s favorite and an influential fashion figure of the era, was accused of taking part in satanic rituals to preserve the king’s love. With the complicity of the sorceress La Voisin, she allegedly attended occult ceremonies involving sacrifices and demonic invocations. These revelations, however terrifying, show that at the height of power and good taste, the temptation of the supernatural was very real. In the following decades, the esoteric craze endured in more socially acceptable forms: during the Enlightenment, many French aristocrats frequented Freemasonry and its lodges with codified rituals, where ceremonial dress and symbols (decorated aprons, embroideries of stars and eyes) were already creating a certain esoteric aesthetic. The late 18th century also saw mysterious figures such as the Count of Cagliostro and Franz Mesmer pass through Paris, captivating high society with their occult sciences. In elegant salons, séances were organized where ladies and gentlemen in exquisite attire attempted to contact the afterlife around spinning tables. Thus, long before the modern era of haute couture, occultism was part of the cultural setting of the French elite, in the shadow of brocades and silks.

Esotericism in Fashion and Symbolist Inspirations during the Belle Époque

At the end of the 19th century, as the first great Parisian couturiers emerged, a powerful mystical current swept through the arts and literature. The Belle Époque was the setting for an occult revival: Theosophical societies, spiritualist circles, Rosicrucian orders, and other hermetic groups attracted intellectuals and socialites. This esoteric climate also permeated the aesthetics of the era. Fashion designers - still known as emerging couture houses - drew inspiration from this craze to enrich their creations. Since its beginnings, haute couture has incorporated the allure of esotericism, reusing its symbols and imagery in prestigious pieces. In 1892, writer Joséphin Péladan organized the Salon de la Rose+Croix in Paris, exhibiting Symbolist works steeped in occultism, where female participants wore flowing dresses resembling ritual garments. Orientalism, highly fashionable at the time, also brought its share of mystical references: Egyptian, Persian, or Hindu motifs - associated with occult knowledge - adorned textiles and jewelry. After the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, Empress Eugénie popularized Oriental-themed soirées where guests wore costumes inspired by ancient Egypt. These lavish parties, providing an opportunity to display extravagant outfits, blurred the boundary between costume, fashion, and esotericism - the fascination with the pharaohs and their secrets converging with high society’s desire for exoticism. Around 1900, the sun itself became a fashion motif: the famous actress Sarah Bernhardt, passionate about occultism, posed in the costume of a mage or in mystical allegories, inspiring stage outfits and accessories (such as sun- or moon-shaped pendants). Fashion thus subtly drew from the spiritual spirit of the age: zodiac motifs, stars, and amulets became elegant ornaments, appearing on everything from fans to brooches. This period also saw the rise of lucky jewelry among major jewelry houses: four-leaf clovers, horseshoes, or gold scarabs set with gems answered the wealthy clientele’s need for protection. The Belle Époque therefore established a first explicit bridge between the surrounding esotericism and the world of luxury clothing: appearance became a messenger of hidden symbols, and the quest for beauty joined the quest for occult meaning.

Inspired and Superstitious Couturiers

At the beginning of the 20th century, occultism continued to appeal to designers and clients, but it manifested itself in a more artistic and playful way. The Roaring Twenties saw the triumph of Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiaparelli, two brilliant couturiers whose legendary rivalry was accompanied by a marked interest in lucky charms and astral symbolism. Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, notoriously superstitious, surrounded herself with talismans and even crystal balls. Born under the sign of Leo (the fifth sign of the zodiac), she made this animal a true signature: lion sculptures adorned her Paris apartment, and the feline motif regularly appeared in Chanel jewelry and buttons. Her lucky number, 5, directly inspired the name of her famous perfume Chanel N°5, launched in 1921 - sample number five chosen out of superstition - and later that of the 2.55 bag (launched in February 1955). Chanel saw signs everywhere: she attributed a protective function to camellias and wore them constantly, convinced that these white flowers drove away evil spirits, in keeping with Buddhist tradition. Her great rival Elsa Schiaparelli, meanwhile, had a true passion for astrology and the occult. Bold and imaginative, Schiaparelli was one of the first to give her collections a theme, readily drawing on mystical imagery. Her Haute Couture collection for winter 1938-1939, titled Astrology, remains a landmark of the genre. Its most emblematic piece is the famous Zodiac Jacket: a midnight-blue velvet evening jacket embroidered with constellations, planets, and sparkling stars by the Lesage house. Twelve glyphs representing the zodiac signs line the chest, while the constellation of the Big Dipper shines on the left shoulder, chosen by Schiaparelli as her personal lucky charm. The origin of this inspiration is touching: as a child, Elsa admired her astronomer uncle Giovanni Schiaparelli, who pointed out that the moles on her cheek formed the shape of the Big Dipper. From then on, the couturier regarded this constellation as her protective sign, incorporated it into her logo, and reproduced it in her most intimate creations. Beyond the zodiac, Schiaparelli collaborated with Surrealist artists (Salvador Dalí, Léonor Fini) and incorporated an entire dreamlike and occult imagery into her dresses and accessories: embroidered eyes on fabrics, lucky hands in jewelry, and alchemical symbols concealed in prints. Her perfume Shocking (1937) was presented in a bottle shaped like a woman’s torso inspired by Mae West’s silhouette, but adorned with a dressmaker’s measuring-tape necklace evoking a magical fashion ritual. During the 1920s-30s, fashion readily entered into dialogue with mysticism: the Surrealist movement, fascinated by dreams and the irrational, encouraged the use of mysterious symbols. Fashion magazines of the period did not hesitate to stage models posing as modern priestesses or the Pythia of Delphi, dressed in flowing veils and starry crowns. This decade thus saw French haute couture weave an imaginary world combining chic and magic, under the aegis of legendary figures whose meaningful eccentricities shaped the era.

The Golden Age of Couture between Rituals, Stars, and the Talismans of Great Couturiers

After the Second World War, Paris reclaimed its status as fashion capital, and the great couturiers of the era - Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Lacroix, and others - perpetuated the tradition of personal superstitions and occultism. Christian Dior, in particular, was renowned for his extreme superstition and unshakable faith in divinatory arts. Before opening his couture house in 1946, Dior consulted a fortune-teller who predicted that he would “succeed through women” - a prophecy that marked him for life. Indeed, this shy couturier became the magician who sublimated the female silhouette with the New Look. But he did nothing without seeking the advice of his personal card reader, Madame Delahaye, who was present backstage to choose the dates of his shows or even the right moment to change the arrangement of a bouquet of flowers. Pierre Cardin, who worked at Dior, later stated: “Without her, he did nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing”. Dior filled his life and work with protective symbols: he founded his house on October 8, 1946, in the 8th arrondissement, seeing a sign in the repetition of the number 8 (which he considered auspicious). Intriguingly, he also liked the number 13 - usually considered unlucky - to the point of always sending 13 models down the runway per collection, so that it would bring him luck. Before each presentation, he slipped a sprig of lily of the valley, the quintessential French lucky flower, into the lining of his creations. He carried a veritable collection of lucky charms: a metal star he had picked up in the street in 1946 (which he interpreted as destiny’s green light to launch his house), a four-leaf clover, a silver heart given to him by his sister, a piece of wood to touch to ward off bad luck, and so on. These rituals coexisted with the modern luxury of his collections, as if to better summon fortune. Even Dior’s favorite flower, lily of the valley, inspired the Miss Dior perfume with which he scented his showrooms, convinced that the lucky fragrance would contribute to success. The past proved him wrong only once: in 1957, going against his fortune-teller’s advice not to travel, Dior went to a health resort in Italy - where he died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 52, leading those close to him to say that he had ignored his written destiny.

Dior was not the only one to gaze at the stars for inspiration. His young protégé and unofficial successor, Yves Saint Laurent, also cultivated a part of the irrational. The “prince of fashion,” although rational in his art, regularly consulted fortune-tellers and read cards to reassure himself in the face of collection-related stress. He even attributed mystical powers to his dog Moujik: if this bulldog settled on a piece of fabric or a sketch, Yves saw it as an omen of future commercial success. Saint Laurent went so far as to create a cosmic-inspired collection in 1976 named Opéra – Les Ballets russes, saturated with mysterious colors and Byzantine ornaments, which caused a sensation. Other emblematic figures also displayed esoteric quirks. Christian Lacroix, the Provençal couturier of the 1980s, accumulated so many lucky charms that “he could no longer fit them all in his pockets,” he joked. Fascinated by the number three and its multiples, he arranged to present 36 or 63 silhouettes per show, a cabalistic practice followed by many of his colleagues. From the clover embroidered on a lining to star-shaped earrings, Lacroix scattered his collections with lucky winks, so that destiny’s benevolence would rub off on his clients. Karl Lagerfeld, Chanel’s artistic director for more than 35 years, once confided that a prophetess had foretold his late fame: “For you, success will begin when it is over for others,” she allegedly predicted in his youth - a prediction he considered fulfilled, since Lagerfeld did not become an icon until after Chanel’s death. He was later seen sprinkling Chanel shows with astrological symbols (the 2018 Métiers d’Art collection dedicated to the zodiac) and lucky camellias, perpetuating Mademoiselle’s obsession. Esotericism became almost an unofficial code of the workshop: people avoided sewing on a button made of a certain metal on Friday the 13th, and never placed a black veil on a mannequin on the eve of a presentation, for fear of attracting misfortune.

The Great Return of the Witch

At the dawn of the 21st century, occultism appeared on the runways more than ever, no longer in secret but as a genuine aesthetic and cultural movement. In the 1990s, the Gothic movement and the appeal of the New Age gained ground in fashion. Avant-garde couturiers, sometimes foreign but influential in Paris, staged the occult spectacularly. This was the case with Briton Alexander McQueen - trained at Givenchy in Paris - who, in 2007, drew a blood-red pentagram on the floor of his show in homage to the witches of Salem, his models moving like enchantresses across this powerful symbol. But France also has its own leading figures in this field. Paco Rabanne, the “enfant terrible” of Parisian couture, represents the most extreme example of this fascination. A visionary fashion designer (with his futuristic metal dresses of the 1960s), Paco Rabanne was also an avowed esotericist. Throughout his career, he provoked and dazzled in equal measure by revealing his mystical convictions. In 1999, he made headlines by predicting nothing less than the apocalypse in Paris on August 11, the day of a solar eclipse, imagining the Mir space station crashing into the capital. Although the prophecy did not come true, it made an impression and drew attention to the designer’s occult world. Paco Rabanne even published his visions in a book (1999, the Fire from the Sky), describing himself as a medium familiar with prophecies of the future. He also publicly revealed his belief in reincarnation, claiming to have lived several colorful previous lives: a high priest in ancient Egypt who plotted the assassination of Tutankhamun, then a prostitute at the court of Louis XV, among others. “My most distant memories go back 78000 years,” he stated seriously, adding that he had received visits from divine entities and even extraterrestrials during his existence. These extravagant statements, mocked by some, also helped shape the couturier’s almost shamanic aura, and his daring creations (combining metal, plastic, and futurism) took on, in retrospect, the appearance of a galactic mage’s outfit.

Today, the younger generation of designers is in turn reconnecting with esoteric imagery, from a feminist or playful perspective. Maria Grazia Chiuri, Dior’s artistic director since 2016, has made the exploration of tarot and witchcraft a recurring thread in her collections. For her first presentation (Dior spring-summer 2017), she drew directly on the astrology cherished by Monsieur Dior: tulle dresses embroidered with sparkling constellations and tarot card motifs mingled with tailored suits, in a spirit that was both romantic and mystical. In 2021, when the pandemic prevented public runway shows, Chiuri designed a haute couture collection for Dior devoted entirely to the Tarot arcana, unveiled in a dreamlike short film titled The Tarot Castle. The same vein has continued recently: the Dior spring 2024 collection revolves around the figure of the witch throughout history - women once persecuted whom Chiuri reinterprets as symbols of emancipation. “It is the idea of transformation,” she explains, taking Joan of Arc, Medea, and the bewitched women of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible as her muses. The show, with the air of a glamorous sabbat, featured cabalistic inscriptions and austere silhouettes recalling the witches of Salem. Other French houses have shown a similar enthusiasm: the Schiaparelli house, revived in 2014, fully embraces Elsa’s esoteric legacy. Under the artistic direction of Daniel Roseberry, it multiplies references to the stars and myths: recent collections have seen the return of giant evil-eye brooches, trompe-l’œil golden skeletons (a nod to the surrealist skeleton dress of 1938), and silhouettes crowned with horns or halos. Roseberry, fascinated by mystery, says he draws inspiration from “the mystical universe that inspired Schia ” to create pieces touched by magical winks. Meanwhile, esoteric accessories are also flooding luxury ready-to-wear: the Chanel house continues to play with the lion motif (the high jewelry collection Under the Sign of the Lion) and regularly offers zodiac jewelry in homage to Mademoiselle. Saint Laurent (now under Italian direction but still a Parisian house), for its part, has launched jewelry and sweaters bearing astrological signs, appealing to a clientele passionate about horoscopes.

Thus, haute couture, the supreme art of staging oneself, has always flirted with the invisible to magnify the visible. Ultimately, occultism and fashion share the same power of fascination - that of re-enchanting everyday life.