The best fashion and design museums around the world: Where to get a fashion fix

In another life I used to write about fashion design, which meant attending the ready-to-wear collections in Paris, London, Milan and New York, and sometimes, when I was lucky, the extravagant couture shows held in January and July in Paris.

The schedule was exhausting but the pay-off was always the chance to see a designer's vision in its pure form before the store merchandisers got their hands on it and made it commercial. And, even if you're the kind of person who couldn't care less about the length of a hem or Karl Lagerfeld's latest brain snap, there is a Cirque du Soleil aspect to many shows that made them thrilling theatrical events.

I get my fashion fix in the rather more civilised confines of a gallery these days. Even if I'm only briefly in a city, I always try to find its arts and decorative museum or check if it has a great fashion collection. I often find that the story of an era can be told more effectively through its fashions and applied arts than its fine art.

My personal favourite is the Fortuny Museum in Venice. I'm completely bonkers about the Spanish-born couturier and inventor who opened his couture house in Venice in 1906. The clients for his finely pleated "Delphos" gowns and beautiful fabrics included the stylish women of the era such as Isadora Duncan and Lillian Gish.

The museum is housed in his palazzo and while only a few of his clothes are exhibited there, the rooms, which are lined in his glorious wallpapers and fabrics, and his studio are pretty much as he left them. It's a bit tricky to find and opens capriciously, but check the website (fortuny.visitmuve.it) and pray it's open while you're there.

The Costume Institute at New York's Metropolitan Museum (metmuseum.org) famously holds a special exhibition and costume gala each year. It reopened in May as the Anna Wintour Costume Center with redesigned galleries. I've never loved this subterranean space but it does hold some amazing shows, such as the current show of the work of couturier Charles James (closing August 10.)

Less well known perhaps is the Musee Galliera in Paris, housed in the opulent former palace of the Duchess de Galliera in the 16th arrondissement (palaisgalliera.paris.fr/en). It holds some spectacular temporary exhibitions of designers such as Jean Lanvin (closing August 23). And when in Paris, do drop into the Musee des Arts Decoratifs next to the Louvre. I saw a fantastic Dries van Noten exhibition there last year (lesartsdecoratifs.fr).

If you're in Milan, the place to go is the Palazzo Morando (costumemodaimmagine.mi.it), an 18th-century palace that now houses the city's costume collection. In Florence, don't miss the Ferragamo Museum in the Palazzo Spini (ferragamo.com) which showcases the master shoe designer's collection of groundbreaking shoe designs.