V&A Museum in London explores Marie Antoinette’s legacy as fashion’s most extravagant queen

V&A Museum in London explores Marie Antoinette’s legacy as fashion’s most extravagant queen

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Reuters

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September 17, 2025

From her dazzling jewels and silk footwear to fashionable interpretations of her extravagant robes, a brand new exhibition exploring the model of France’s doomed 18th-century queen Marie Antoinette opens in London this week.

Exterior view of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, dwelling to the “Marie Antoinette Style” exhibition. – DR

The V&A Museum in London is internet hosting “Marie Antoinette Style,” the UK’s first exhibition devoted to the French queen. Born into the Austrian royal household, Marie Antoinette married King Louis XVI of France and rapidly grew to become one of many most trendy—and controversial—figures of her time. Her lavish tastes and extravagant picture contributed to rising tensions that culminated in the French Revolution. In 1793, revolutionaries executed each her and her husband. She was 37 years previous.

“(The exhibition is) about the style shaped by the most fashionable queen in history, Marie Antoinette,” stated exhibition curator Sarah Grant. “We look at the style that she shaped from 1770 until her death and then the legacy of that style.”

Portrait of Marie Antoinette with a rose, Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun. Credit picture: Château de Versailles, Dist. Grand Palais RMN / Christophe Fouin

Approximately 250 objects are on show, together with Marie Antoinette’s footwear, jewellery, and private belongings, such as an eau de cologne bottle and a porcelain dinner service.

Fashions from the interval, together with portraits of the queen and her furnishings, are additionally included in the exhibition. These function a number of gadgets on mortgage from the Palace of Versailles. Among the extra poignant shows are her jail chemise and a last handwritten notice composed shortly earlier than her execution.

The up to date part showcases an array of designer robes and sneakers that look at Marie Antoinette’s affect on trend and movie. These embody costumes created for Sofia Coppola’s 2006 movie “Marie Antoinette,” which starred Kirsten Dunst in the titular position.

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“What’s incredible is that her influence has been so continuous,” Grant stated. “It’s continued… really ever since her death and continues now.”

“Marie Antoinette Style” opens on Saturday and runs till March.

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