LOEWE'S RUNWAY MENAGERIE REACHES THE PETIT PALAIS

Cosima von Bonin's "Dollys & Beaux", the menagerie she made for Loewe's Fall Winter 2026 show, is on view for free at the Petit Palais in Paris through October 25, 2026, as part of Art Basel Paris's Public Program. Loewe describes the work as leather octopuses, mohair whales and velvet St. Bernards, and says a selection of bags and accessories from the collection takes its cue from the artist's visual language.

Twelve Animals in a Free Room

Time Out Paris counts twelve plush animal sculptures in the installation, among them the leather octopus, the mohair whale and the velvet St. Bernards named in Loewe's description. The room is at the Petit Palais on Avenue Winston Churchill in the 8th arrondissement, and admission is free. Listings give October 20 to 25 for the Petit Palais show, while ArtNews dates the Public Program as a whole from October 21 to 25.

The work is shown through three galleries, Gaga in Mexico City, Galerie Neu in Berlin and Petzel in New York, according to Time Out Paris and Berlin ArtLink. The title varies by source: most write "Dollys & Beaux", one listing calls it "The Dollys & The Beaux", and coverage of the runway names the dog series "The Beaux" while ArtNews spells it "Les Beaux".

ArtNews included the installation in its list of the best Public Program works, under a headline that pairs a crowd of TV screens with a flock of plush animals, and Sortiraparis called it a quirky menagerie settling into the Petit Palais. Time Out Paris also notes newer accessories shown with the animals, among them tartan and silk scarves. Von Bonin is known for humour, aquatic caricatures and pop culture characters, which is the vocabulary the octopus and the whale continue.

The setting is the fifth edition of Art Basel Paris at the Grand Palais, which Art Miami Magazine counts at 211 galleries. The Petit Palais room sits outside the fair itself, in the Public Program that hube magazine says extends the event into the city.

Hermit Crabs on Shoeboxes

The creatures were made at the request of Loewe's creative directors, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, to open the Fall Winter 2026 show at the Château de Vincennes, which Artsy dates to March 6, 2026. Reports describe a yellow floored set where plush hermit crabs, bulldogs and killer whales sat on rows of oversized white shoeboxes that served as seats, and Apollo Magazine placed an octopus in the audience. Artnet's headline put it as an octopus in the front row.

In the show notes, McCollough and Hernandez cited humour, levity and a bright, inclusive spirit as their reasons for choosing her work. Loewe's own post on the show called von Bonin's work one of the collection's touchstones. The runway read as a deep sea set for Paris, and the Petit Palais room keeps the same animals but removes the audience.

From Sculpture to Handbag

The imagery crossed into the clothes. Reports describe von Bonin's floral and gingham motifs in garments and her sea creatures as charms, jewels, accessories and minaudières. Metal Magazine notes bags decorated with tiny dog and crab charms and an Amazona 180 transformed into porcelain, and Loewe's campaign page lists new editions of the Amazona 180, the Puzzle and the Flamenco that interpret her visual language.

Cultured wrote about a Whisker bag in glazed calfskin, with a floppy zipper and long tassels that mimic ears and whiskers and a von Bonin inspired plaid worked in leather intarsia. Loewe's own wording for the exhibition is that the bags and accessories are inspired by the artist's unique visual language and interpreted through LOEWE craft, which is the process the Whisker bag shows: an animal reduced to a tassel, an ear and a glaze.

Three Appearances in Eight Months

Von Bonin has appeared for Loewe three times this year. She built the set in March, appeared among the cast of the Fall Winter 2026 campaign, and now fills the Petit Palais. The campaign, a glacier shoot with Lil Yachty and Julia Garner, was photographed by Talia Chetrit at Pointe Helbronner in the Mont Blanc massif at about 3,470 meters, and lists von Bonin among its cast.

That makes the artist the one constant across a runway, a mountain and a museum in a single season. The plush animals leave the Petit Palais after October 25.