As September marks the unofficial return back to the hum drums of everyday life, with calendars filling up and routines settling back into place, seek cultural refuge in the pleasures that slow time and spark inspiration: an afternoon spent wandering a gallery, the thrill of discovering a one-of-a-kind vintage treasure or a compelling book that transports you to the outdoors and awakens your senses.

Lucas Museum of Narrative Art Opening

When the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art opens in Los Angeles’ Exposition Park on Sept. 22, it will invite visitors to rethink where art begins and ends. Cofounded by married partners filmmaker George Lucas and business leader Mellody Hobson, the 300,000-square-foot museum houses more than 40,000 works spanning fine art, illustration, comics, photography, film and popular culture across 35 galleries. “Art is all around us,” said Ryan Linkof, senior curator and head of film programs, pointing to everything from children’s books and magazine illustrations to murals and “Star Wars” artifacts. The museum encourages guests to “choose your own adventure,” exploring works by Frida Kahlo, Norman Rockwell, Judy Baca and Frank Frazetta. Two theaters continue the storytelling through film, with programming spanning early cinema, experimental animation and Lucas’ student films. Outside, an 11-acre public park surrounds Ma Yansong’s sculptural building, while rooftop Skywalker Grill brings dining with panoramic L.A. views. — Ryma Chikhoune

“The 90s: Art and Fashion” Exhibition

Tate Britain is tapping into 1990s nostalgia with “The 90s: Art and Fashion,” a major exhibition that looks back at the old days when John Galliano, Hussein Chalayan and Alexander McQueen were shaking up the runways; Manchester’s Haçienda club was a world capital of music, and Charles Saatchi was fueling the careers of Young British Artists including Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst and Sam Taylor-Johnson.

Running from Oct. 8 to Feb. 14, 2027, and curated by Edward Enninful, the show will bring together nearly 70 artists, photographers and designers, with around 100 photographs, paintings, sculptures and fashion on display.

Images by Corinne Day, Nigel Shafran and Juergen Teller for i-D and Dazed will underscore the decade’s taste for imperfection, while works by Nick Knight, David Sims, Craig McDean and Wolfgang Tillmans explore a starker, conceptual edge. — Tianwei Zhang

Ossie Clark and Celia Birtwell Exhibition

London’s Fashion and Textile Museum will spotlight Ossie Clark and Celia Birtwell this fall, tracing how the designer–textile artist duo helped define the late 1960s and early ’70s London look.

Opening Oct. 2 and running to April 11, 2027, the exhibition will present more than 120 garments from a private collection and loans from Birtwell, covering their joint output from 1965 to 1974. Often dubbed the “King of King’s Road,” Clark cut fluid, bias-cut dresses that skimmed the body, while Birtwell supplied romantic prints on crêpe, silk and chiffon, worn by Bianca Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, Elizabeth Taylor, Mick Jagger and Jimi Hendrix.

Key stories will include Quorum, their influential Chelsea boutique, archival runway imagery, and hero pieces such as the Ziggy Stardust dress. — T.Z.

Arc de Triomphe’s New Look by Jérémy Pradier-Jeauneau

The Arc de Triomphe in Paris just received a makeover by artist and designer Jérémy Pradier-Jeauneau, given carte blanche to “haunt the monument.”

At least, that’s how he sums up his addition of a hulking crown-shaped sofa, stylized palm fronds, fearsome scaffolding-like structures, and the odd beach umbrella, all on display through Oct. 4.

“I wanted to create a sweeping journey through the monument, from the bottom all the way to the top,” he says. “The idea was to follow the usual visitor route while transforming it into a complete and disorienting experience, at times moving, at times humorous, and at times surprising.”

He incorporated sculptures, sounds, scents and many textile elements because they represent “memory, intimacy and emotion. Fashion has this incredible ability to create an immediate emotional response. I wanted to bring that same softness into one of France’s most monumental and military spaces.”

Not that he glossed over its history, especially how deeply author Victor Hugo was implicated. “I have actually redesigned Victor Hugo’s bed, the bed in which he died, and placed it beside the scale model of the monument,” he said. “Literature has always been an endless source of inspiration for me.”

As has his hometown. “I love my city,” he says. “I am profoundly Parisian, and through this project I discovered how much the Arc de Triomphe embodies the Parisian spirit. It is military, popular and symbolic all at once.” — Miles Socha

“Roy Lichenstein: Like New” Exhibition

This fall, the Whitney Museum is inviting viewers to revisit Roy Lichenstein’s legacy and canon of work through a contemporary perspective. The New York museum will mount a retrospective for the Pop Art pioneer, featuring 130 of the artist’s works spanning from the early 1940s through the 1990s. “Roy Lichenstein: Like New” will include iconic works like “Drowning Girl” and “Happy Tears,” both from the mid-1960s, recreations of large-scale murals, and also reunites all of the pieces from the artist’s debut exhibition of Pop-style artwork, originally shown at Leo Castelli Gallery in 1962. The exhibition opens to the public on Oct. 11. — Kristen Tauer

Irving Penn Retrospective

Picture the designs of Christian Dior and Cristóbal Balenciaga. Chances are that what you see in your mind’s eye was shaped by Irving Penn, who is the subject of an exhibition at Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris running Sept. 30 to Jan. 17, 2027.

“Penn & Fashion” unfolds chronologically, starting with 1950s haute couture shot on the likes of Lisa Fonssagrives, whom he married in 1950, and Jean Patchett. The show goes on to explore the 1970s where the master photographer, who collaborated with Vogue for more than six decades, captured designs by Ungaro, Courrèges, followed by the 1980s where Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld reigned.

The final three decades of Penn’s career saw sumptuous gowns by John Galliano, the opulence of Christian Lacroix’s work and dramatic feathered pieces for Chanel catch his eye, as well as striking beauty images in Vogue in the 1990s and 2000s.

A highlight in the exhibition is his 13-year collaboration with Issey Miyake, whose sculptural creations complemented the elegant simplicity of his photographic style.

Drawing mainly on the MEP and Nicola Erni collections, “Penn & Fashion” also features numerous loans from The Irving Penn Foundation and the Miyake Issey Foundation. — Lily Templeton

“Banquets and Feasts at Chambord” Exhibition

The Château de Chambord in France’s Loire valley has seen some fancy dinners over the centuries, and four notable ones are the subject of the “Banquets and Feasts at Chambord” exhibition, on from Sept. 26 to Jan. 24, 2027.

The challenges in recreating the table settings went beyond badly tarnished forks: A scientific committee was enlisted to recreate long-ago disappeared serving dishes, silverware and ceremonial items using experimental methods of modeling and 3D printing. These are displayed alongside museum pieces to recreate royal dinners given in 1539, 1685 and 1745.

Curators were also able to curate with great accuracy a dinner in 1988 given in honor of the Prince and Princess of Wales, where Sèvres porcelain and Baccarat glasses were pressed into service. The Catherine Walker dress Lady Di wore that night will also be on display.

Overall, the exhibition features 600 original artifacts, alongside olfactory installations. Bon appetit! — M.S.

Flamingo Estate’s New Book “Pleasure Principles” by Richard Christiansen

Flamingo Estate is taking its seasonal bounty to the page. On Sept. 15, the popular Los Angeles-based orchard, farm and home goods purveyor is releasing its latest book, “Pleasure Principle: An Almanac From the Garden” as a “love letter” to mother nature. Inspired by Victory Gardens of WWI and WWII, Flamingo Estate founder Richard Christiansen wants to encourage readers to put down their phones and reconnect with the sensory experience of plants through the act of growing, cooking, tasting and smelling. The book takes readers through a full year of Flamingo Estate, almanac-style, highlighting each month through recipes, photography, paintings, growing to-do lists and descriptions of the flora and fauna cultivated across the estate. There’s the added pleasure of giving back: author profits from the book will benefit the Flamingo Estate Fund, which supports causes protecting the environment and animals. — K.T.

Vavra Vintage Store Opening

Dianne Vavra, the beauty veteran-turned-vintage seller is inaugurating her third Vavra boutique in Upper East Side, tucked beneath a brownstone, between Madison and Fifth Avenue. The new year-round store adds to her existing location in Huntington and seasonal shop in Southampton, and will carry a variety of vintage bags by Dior, Chanel, Gucci, Fendi, Loewe, Balenciaga and more, as well as costume jewelry from the 1930s through the early 2000s.

“Roughly 90 percent of my clients are from around the country and around the world. When they come, they obviously come to New York City. So, this [store] was always in the back of my head,” Vavra says.

A born and raised New Yorker, Vavra served as the senior vice president of press and celebrity relations at Dior Beauty before opening her own agency. She says her vintage business began as a “fluke,” adding, “It was something that I did on the side. I wasn’t intending on opening a vintage store.”

In addition to standard store appointments, Vavra will also be offering tours of the Gilded Age mansions lining Fifth Avenue, available monthly, which will be led by Bill Shaffer, former senior vice president, store design, visual merchandising at Dior. — Kaleigh Werner