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On September 17 2025, coinciding with London Fashion Week, a new exhibition was unveiled at the V&A South Kensington, London. Titled 'Marie Antoinette Style', this is the UK's first exhibition on the French queen Marie Antoinette, and it will run from September 20 to March 22, 2026.
The show explores the complex fashion icon, Marie Antoinette, and her timeless appeal, defined by her exceptional style and controversial image, which became synonymous with excess -- representing youth, decadence, power and notoriety. In addition, her fascinating story adds to her perennial allure: she was a child bride at fourteen, became the Queen of France at nineteen and, following the French Revolution in 1789, she was imprisoned and eventually executed by guillotine when she was just 37.
The exhibition is presented in chronological order and divided into four sections: Marie Antoinette: The Origins of a Style; Marie Antoinette Memorialised: The Birth of a Style Cult; Marie Antoinette: Enchantment and Illusion and Marie Antoinette Re-Styled.
It features 250 objects, including exceptionally rare personal items owned by Marie Antoinette herself, such as a pair of silk slippers, jewels from her private collection, and the final note she ever wrote before her death, on a blank page in her prayer book. Other highlights of this presentation, which have never left Versailles or France before, include the queen's dinner service from the Petit Trianon. The French queen's armchair from the V&A's own collection, with Marie Antoinette's monogram, is also part of the exhibit.
Speaking via email to Tobias Kormind, managing director of 77diamonds, he tells me that Marie Antoinette's untimely death only cemented her place as one of history's greatest style icons, and her love of luxury continues to fascinate centuries later. "What struck me most at the V&A was seeing her extraordinary jewelry casket -- usually kept at Versailles -- displayed for the first time alongside jewels from her collection. It was remarkable to witness these treasures, once part of the royal court, reunited from across the globe," he said.
Through audiovisual installations and immersive curation, the show explores why Marie Antoinette has remained a constant source of ideas. Beyond the artefacts and exquisite gowns, the exhibition examines the cultural impact of the Queen's style and her ongoing inspiration for leading designers and creatives, from Sofia Coppola and Manolo Blahnik, who sponsored the event, to Moschino and Vivienne Westwood. Pieces by Dior and Chanel, as well as costumes made for the silver screen, were also featured.
Kormind expands on this by saying that what this exhibition makes clear is the enduring nature of her influence, not only in the fashion industry but also with collectables at auction. "Marie Antoinette's style has inspired designers for generations, from Karl Lagerfeld's Chanel Cruise collection in 2012 to Dior's Versailles-themed jewelry collection in 2016. More than two hundred years on, her legacy continues to shape design today -- and with her pearl pendant alone fetching $36 million at Sotheby's Geneva in 2018, it's evident that her allure and impact remain timeless."
Marie Antoinette was a fashion icon in her own right, a precursor to modern celebrities, and her influence has had a lasting impact on the arts as a whole. Her style has been a source of constant inspiration for contemporary designers. She was also, of course, the theme for the 2006 film Marie Antoinette, written, directed, and produced by Sofia Coppola, which won the Best Costume Design at the 79th Academy Awards.
As Sarah Grant, Curator of Marie Antoinette Style, said in a press release, "The most fashionable, scrutinized and controversial queen in history, Marie Antoinette's name summons both visions of excess and objects and interiors of great beauty." She added that the Austrian archduchess, who became Queen of France, had a profound impact on European taste and fashion in her own time, creating a distinctive style that now has universal appeal and application.
This exhibition explores that 'distinctive style', using a range of exquisite objects belonging to Marie Antoinette herself, as well as decorative objects inspired by her legacy. "This is the design legacy of an early modern celebrity and the story of a woman whose power to fascinate has never ebbed," says Grant, "Marie Antoinette's story has been re-told and re-purposed by each successive generation to suit its own ends. The rare combination of glamour, spectacle and tragedy she presents remains as intoxicating today as it was in the eighteenth century."
The exhibition combines historical and contemporary fashion while exploring Marie Antoinette's storied legacy and her enduring cultural relevance.
As part of the exhibit, the show also showcases the creations of contemporary artists, including porcelain works by Artist Beth Katleman and designer Victor Glemaud, which have been inspired by elements of Marie Antoinette's timeless style and period.
Speaking to Beth Katleman at the press preview, she told me that she has been working with porcelain since 2010 and that she is especially inspired by the Toile de Jouy (the classic decorative fabric featuring a single-colour, with repeated pastoral or romantic scenes), which was one of Marie Antoinette’s favorites. Katleman was approached by the exhibition’s curator and asked to create a series of delicate porcelain scenes to decorate the exhibition space. She describes Marie Antoinette as her touchstone and tells me that so much about Marie Antoinette is about desire, consumption, and decadence -- themes that she works with in her own work. “I think she is the ultimate tabloid queen because she had beauty; she had wealth and power. It came to her by accident; there was nothing that she did; that she accomplished; that put her in that spot; and so we are fascinated by that; someone who has unlimited access to luxury; and that of course was part of her downfall,” she says. Something Katleman thinks of as very contemporary.
What makes this exhibition so interesting is the amount of material on display and how it relates to Marie Antoinette herself. As explained by Sarah Grant in her speech at the opening, this exhibition considers Marie Antoinette’s contribution to design; fashion; and film through her wardrobe. “We tried very much to place Marie Antoinette at the heart of her own story through the most personal and intimate objects that belonged to her,” she said. This is something that certainly comes across.