Marie Antoinette Style at the V&A

Marie Antoinette Style at the V&A

Art In Art Magazine, 14/Oct/2025

The V&A South Kensington’s highly anticipated exhibition, Marie Antoinette Style, is a dazzling and comprehensive reassessment of the historical figure who remains arguably the most fashionable, scrutinized, and controversial queen in history.

Sponsored by Manolo Blahnik, the exhibition runs through March 22, 2026, and is notable as the UK's first ever exhibition dedicated to the French monarch. Curated by Sarah Grant, the showcase traces the cultural impact and countless revivals of the style shaped by this "early modern ‘celebrity’", exploring its influence across 250 years of design, fashion, film, and decorative arts.

The exhibition features approximately 250 objects, successfully capturing the rare combination of glamour, spectacle, and tragedy that makes Marie Antoinette's story so enticing today.

The strength of Marie Antoinette Style lies in its ability to forge a personal connection to the ill-fated queen, utilising intimate artifacts to bridge the historical gap. As really limited amount of complete gowns worn by Marie Antoinette survive due to looting after the revolution, the collection relies on meticulous detective work, gowns worn by her contemporaries, couture fashion pieces inspired by her style, paintings, and her 1782 "wardrobe book". Far from a thumbnail of her story, this effort makes the surviving historical items, marked with Marie's monogram, feel especially precious.

Among these treasures are richly embellished fragments of court dresses, her pink silk slippers adorned with black beads, and jewels from her private collection, including eye-popping diamonds and pearls, often displayed alongside her elegant jewelry casket. Also on display for the first time outside of Versailles and France are her accessories, intimate items from her toilette case (such as a crystal flask of Eau de Cologne), and her dinner service from the Petit Trianon.

Visitors can also admire extraordinary examples of her patronage, such as the dainty gilt walnut armchair used in her private dressing room at Château de Saint-Cloud, and the Sèvres factory “breast bowl” (Bol-sein) commissioned for her ceremonial dairy at Rambouillet. The breast bowl for me is exceptionally curious, I think the shape and subject matter of the bowl was to celebrate her fertility, however I couldn't find much information regarding that.

Instead I went down a rabbit hole detailing how French royals and aristocracy enjoyed life to the maximum by building 'dairies' that's meant as a dairy product tasting room(instead of producing) and to enjoy country life without labour.

More info can be found here:
https://culturezvous.com/en/queen-marine-antoinette-dairy-rambouillet/

breast bowl description in V&A Marie Antoinette Style exhibition

The exhibition excels in its use of immersive and challenging curation. A dedicated scent experience transports visitors through Marie Antoinette's world. Four faux marble busts are infused with custom fragrances, moving from the stench of a crowded Versailles masquerade ball (beeswax, smoke, body odour) to the sweet aromas of her dressing table (orris root, rose, musk) and the lilac- and rose-scented Petit Trianon gardens.

The four scents which draw you into Marie Antoinette’s world.
copyright to Peter Kelleher

This sensory journey culminates in a shocking olfactory representation of her prison cell, marked by mildew, sewage, and cold stone, with a subtle note of purifying juniper. This brutal reality is heightened in the final historical rooms, where visitors encounter satirical caricatures that depicted her notoriety, and a long, blood-red corridor leading to the chilling artifacts of her end. The plain, white linen chemise worn during her imprisonment—the only complete garment of hers on display—is mounted to float like an apparition, offering an affecting glimpse of her final moments before the guillotine.

There is a believe in rural China, that everyone has a pre-determined amount of luck and joy to enjoy in life when they're born, and if they've spent it without caution, bad luck will pursue them.

Looking at the amount of handmade garments with meticulous embroideries and bobbin lace featured in her wardrobe book, and the amount of garments she supposedly commissioned each year (up to 300!), at this rate her bedroom would count as a extension of her wardrobe because of the sheer size of the space it has to be to accommodate that many formal dresses.

All in all, the conclusion of the show firmly establishes Marie Antoinette's enduring fashion legacy. The showstopping final galleries feature contemporary couture and cinematic connections, including Oscar-winning costumes from Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette and custom Manolo Blahnik shoes created for the film.

Haute couture pieces by leading designers such as Moschino (including the "iced cake dresses"), Dior, Chanel, Vivienne Westwood, Erdem, and Valentino demonstrate how her Rococo aesthetic has been continually reinterpreted. The inclusion of powerful, concept-driven works, such as a John Galliano Dior gown featuring both the guillotine and the Petit Trianon, confirms the lasting fascination with this complex figure whose style choices ultimately paved her way to the scaffold. Marie Antoinette Style succeeds in being a luxurious, spectacular, and deeply moving exploration of an iconic figure whose tragedy is inseparable from her immense influence on design.

Read more at:
https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/about-the-marie-antoinette-style-exhibition
https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/inside-v-and-a-marie-antoinette-style
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/marie-antoinette-style-va-museum-2689304