Marie Antoinette Style: The V&A Celebrates the Queen of Fashion

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

A Queen for the Ages

This autumn, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London will unveil the first UK exhibition dedicated entirely to the queen who has become synonymous with fashion, excess, and enduring fascination: Marie Antoinette. Opening on 20 September 2025 and running until 22 March 2026, Marie Antoinette Style promises an unprecedented exploration of the origins and countless revivals of the aesthetic shaped by France’s most glamorous sovereign.

Jewels, Slippers, and Symbols of Intimacy

Bringing together 250 extraordinary objects, the exhibition gathers treasures never before seen outside Versailles and France. At its heart are intimate belongings of the queen herself, displayed alongside masterpieces of eighteenth-century craftsmanship and later reinterpretations of her style.

Visitors will encounter her delicately beaded pink silk slippers, jewels from her personal collection, and even the poignant final note she wrote on the eve of her execution in 1793. Her crystal perfume flask, items from her toilette case, and accessories from the Petit Trianon will provide a glimpse into the private world of a woman who was both scrutinised and idolised.

Among the most compelling displays will be the reunion of the celebrated Sutherland diamond necklace, thought to include gems from the scandalous Boehmer and Bassenge necklace affair, with a replica of the original jewel that helped fuel the queen’s downfall.

Adding to this dazzling presentation are pearls once belonging to Marie Antoinette, now preserved in the Heidi Horten Collection, and the double ribbon bow brooch that testifies to her love of jewellery’s elegance and symbolism.

The exhibition also features one of the famous Sèvres Rambouillet dairy bowls of 1787—the so-called bol sein or “breast cup”—a playful yet controversial object that inspired the persistent, if erroneous, legend that it was modelled on the queen’s own breast.

Origins of a Style

The exhibition unfolds across four sweeping chapters that chart the evolution of Marie Antoinette’s image and legacy. It begins in 1770, when the young Austrian archduchess became Dauphine of France, and follows her years as queen, a consort who reshaped court life, taste, and culture.

Here, richly embellished fragments of her court dress, furniture from her private apartments, and rare porcelain objects illuminate the origins of a style that was both excessive and delicately modern, reflecting her fascination with Enlightenment ideals of motherhood, intimacy, and new technologies.

This first section does not shy away from mythmaking, confronting the enduring “let them eat cake” legend and the stories that contributed to her image as a figure of both glamour and controversy.

A Romanticised Legacy

The narrative then shifts to the nineteenth century, when Marie Antoinette’s legacy was revived with romanticised fervour. Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III, became one of the most ardent champions of the queen’s memory, collecting her possessions and staging exhibitions that cemented her reputation as a style icon. Through photography, costumes, and objects steeped in sentimentality, the queen’s image was transformed into that of a tragic heroine, a cult figure who inspired collectors in Britain and America alike.

Enchantment and Illusion

By the fin de siècle, Marie Antoinette had entered a realm of fantasy and illusion. Her story inspired fairy-tale imagery, Art Nouveau elegance, and the theatrical creations of couturiers such as Jeanne Lanvin and the Boué Soeurs.

Watercolour illustrations by Erté, George Barbier, and Edmund Dulac evoke the escapism and decadence that had by then become entwined with her name. The queen was no longer just a figure of history, but a muse for an entire aesthetic of enchantment.

Re-Styled for the Modern Age

The final chapter brings her forward into the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, revealing how Marie Antoinette’s style continues to shape fashion, performance, and pop culture. On display will be couture creations by Dior, Chanel, Erdem, Vivienne Westwood, Valentino and Moschino, juxtaposed with eighteenth-century silks and jewels.

Contemporary photography, from Tim Walker’s Vogue shoot with Kate Moss to Robert Polidori’s atmospheric images of Versailles, demonstrates the ongoing resonance of the queen’s image.

Cinema, too, has kept her spirit alive: Sofia Coppola’s Oscar-winning film Marie Antoinette—complete with Manolo Blahnik’s shoe designs—brought her to a new generation, blending history with modern sensibilities.

Manolo Blahnik’s presence in the exhibition continues in creations such as his “Antonietta” and “Tourzel Habsburg” shoes, explicitly inspired by the queen’s aesthetic.

Further contemporary responses come from artist Beth Katleman and designer Victor Glemaud, both of whom reimagine her legacy in unexpected ways, proof that the fascination with Marie Antoinette remains fertile ground for creativity.

Glamour, Spectacle, and Tragedy

What makes this exhibition truly distinctive is the sensory staging that captures the atmosphere of Versailles. Visitors will not only see the fashions and jewels that defined Marie Antoinette’s world, but also experience the scents she favoured, immersing themselves in the excess and delicacy that shaped her aesthetic universe.

For Sarah Grant, curator of Marie Antoinette Style, the queen remains “the most fashionable, scrutinised and controversial” monarch of her time. She was an early modern celebrity whose charisma lay in a heady combination of glamour, spectacle, and tragedy. More than two centuries after her death, Marie Antoinette continues to captivate as both muse and myth. Her jewels and fashions are more than relics of an ancien régime: they are touchstones of creativity that have inspired successive generations of designers, artists, and dreamers.

The Enduring Allure of a Queen

With its rare assembly of personal treasures and its thoughtful exploration of cultural legacy, Marie Antoinette Style at the V&A will offer not just a glimpse into the splendours of Versailles, but also a meditation on the timeless allure of a queen whose style remains as intoxicating today as it was in the eighteenth century.

---

Marie Antoinette Style
V&A South Kensington, London – tickets
20 September 2025 – 22 March 2026