From 18th-Century Athleisure to the Latest Vetements Sweats, a New Paris Show Looks at 300 Years of Fashion

Early into a preview of "Fashion Forward: 3 Centuries of Fashion," the new exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, lead curator of the exhibit, Pamela Golbin, is explaining how a men's hunting coat ornamented with metal embroidery circa 1690 would have been the period equivalent of today's luxe sportswear. By the same token, she compares a robe volante in silk lampas covered with Persian-inspired patterning from around 1725 with the comfy clothes we might slip into for an evening...