Soft animals made for a LOEWE runway now fill the Petit Palais

A midnight-blue velvet dog with a wooden barrel round its neck sits in the Petit Palais in Paris. Cosima von Bonin made it in 2026, and the work is titled Beau 9. It has company, including a black-and-white killer whale in mohair and leather and a blue velvet hermit crab. Velvet sea scallops, an octopus and a whale are in the show too.

These soft works began as a fashion job. Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez commissioned the sculptures for the LOEWE Fall Winter 2026 show. LOEWE's page for that show points to the Château de Vincennes in Paris.

Von Bonin is described there as a Cologne-based contemporary artist. The page says her works became part of the staging inside the show space. They also inspired runway pieces, charms, jewels and accessories.

The context

Reported by Art Basel Paris, the oversized textile animals appeared in the runway show. A version of the Amazona 180 bag was part of her work too, the essay says. Her motifs turned up on garments and accessories as well. Estelle Hoy, a Berlin-based writer and art critic, wrote the essay. It notes that von Bonin declined to give quotes, so it holds no words from the artist.

In the essay's words, Dollys & Beaux "christens the multitude of ways we make beauty plural, again and again".

Three galleries present the work: Gaga in Mexico City, Galerie Neu in Berlin and Petzel Gallery in New York. They show it as part of the fair's public program.

From catwalk to gallery

So the route runs from catwalk to gallery. First the animals served as staging and style ideas for a fashion house. Then three galleries brought them to the Petit Palais in the fair's public program.

I would love a velvet dog of my own, but my sofa has opinions.

How to see it

Entry is free from 20 to 25 October, the fair's page says. Doors open from 10am to 6pm, with later hours on Friday and Saturday. Check the dates before you go, since the essay gives them as 23 to 25 October.

Would you visit?