On September 20, 2025, the V&A Museum in South Kensington, London, will open the Marie Antoinette Style exhibition, the first exhibition in the United Kingdom entirely devoted to the figure of French Queen Marie Antoinette. On view through March 22, 2026, the exhibition will investigate the origins and numerous revivals of the aesthetic taste associated with one of the most iconic sovereigns in fashion. Considered a true trendsetter of her time and one of the first “celebrities” of the modern era, her personal style-expressed in her clothing and chosen furnishings-has left a lasting impression on the world of design, fashion, film, and decorative arts for more than 250 years.
The exhibition will feature some 250 pieces, including exceptional loans from the Palace of Versailles never before exhibited outside France. Among the objects on display will be both historical and contemporary clothing, accompanied by audiovisual installations and an immersive layout designed to help people understand how and why the figure of Marie Antoinette continues to exert such a strong fascination.
The exhibition will also offer a novel reading of thelegacy of a complex woman whose public image that also caused scandal helped make her a timeless icon. Alongside pieces from major international loans, objects from the V&A’s permanent collection will also be on display.
The exhibition will trace the cultural legacy of the queen’s style, highlighting her strong influence on contemporary creatives and designers such as Sofia Coppola, Manolo Blahnik, Moschino and Vivienne Westwood. Rarest pieces will include original fragments of court gowns, the exquisite silk slippers that belonged to the sovereign, personal jewelry, as well as items that never left Versailles, such as the Petit Trianon table service, accessories and toiletries of the queen.
There will also be no shortage of haute couture creations by famous names such as Chanel, Dior, Erdem, Valentino, and Vivienne Westwood, as well as film costumes, including the one made for Sofia Coppola’s Oscar-winning film Marie Antoinette, starring Kirsten Dunst, with footwear by Manolo Blahnik.
Marie Antoinette not only influenced her time in the fields of fashion, design, furniture, landscape and decorative arts, but has continued to inspire generations of artists and designers in areas such as photography, film, performance and visual arts for more than two and a half centuries. The exhibition will feature theatrical sets, multi-sensory experiences and visual reconstructions of her unmistakable style - sumptuous, feminine and exaggerated - that helped rewrite the idea of elegance. An olfactory experience will also be offered, featuring the court’s signature fragrances and the queen’s favorite scent, recreated especially for the occasion.
“The most fashionable and controversial queen in history, Marie Antoinette evokes both visions of excess and objects and interiors of great beauty. The Austrian archduchess, who became queen of France, had an enormous impact on European taste and fashion of her time, creating a style that enjoys universal appeal today. This exhibition explores that style and the figure of Marie Antoinette through a series of objects that belonged to her, alongside the finest fine and decorative pieces that her legacy inspired. This is the stylistic legacy of an early modern celebrity and the story of a woman whose power to fascinate never faded. The story of Marie Antoinette has been retold and repurposed by each successive generation for its own purposes. The rare combination of glamour, spectacle and tragedy she presents remains as intoxicating today as it was in the 18th century,” said Sarah Grant, curator of the exhibition.
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| A major exhibition on Marie Antoinette, the most fashionable queen in history, will open in the UK |
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