Marie Antoinette Style at the V&A: Dressing the Myth of a Queen
Marie Antoinette Style’s Final Room showcasing contemporary fashion interpretation
London’s V&A has never shied away from spectacle, but with Marie Antoinette Style, it has conjured something more elusive: presence. The exhibition, which opened this week in London, is not merely a showcase of Rococo excess or a historical deep-dive into the wardrobe of France’s most mythologised queen it’s a séance in silk and satin, a sensory immersion into the life, legend, and legacy of Marie Antoinette. And while the gowns may be reconstructions, the spirit feels startlingly intact.
Curated by Dr. Sarah Grant, the exhibition is a triumph of archival detective work. With no surviving complete gowns from the queen’s wardrobe looted and dispersed in the wake of the Revolution Grant and her team relied on Marie’s 1782 “wardrobe book,” paintings, prints, and fabric swatches to recreate the silhouettes and textures she adored. The result is a gallery of ghostly echoes: dresses she might have worn, jewels she once packed to flee Versailles, and furnishings that have never before left France. Even her wedding dress, recreated with painstaking accuracy, offers a glimpse into what she may have looked like on that fateful day.
Portrait of Marie Antoinette
Painter of the cabinet of the King after Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun
But Marie Antoinette Style is not just about historical reconstruction it’s about cultural resurrection. And no one has done more to revive the queen’s image for modern audiences than Sofia Coppola.
Coppola’s 2006 film Marie Antoinette, starring Kirsten Dunst, is a pastel-drenched fever dream of Versailles decadence. Based on Antonia Fraser’s biography, the film reimagines the queen not as a villainous spendthrift, but as a misunderstood teenager thrust into a gilded cage. With its New Romantic soundtrack, candy-coloured cinematography, and unapologetically modern sensibility, Coppola’s vision was radical and divisive. But it was also deeply influential.
Kirsten Dunst in Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette movie 2006
“Sofia’s film was a turning point,” says Grant. “It brought empathy to the narrative, and it made Marie Antoinette accessible. The exhibition wouldn’t have been possible without it.” Indeed, the V&A dedicates a section to the film’s impact, featuring costumes, clips, and most notably the shoes.
The legendary shoe designer Manolo Blahnik, who sponsored the exhibition, has long been captivated by Marie Antoinette. As a child, his mother read him Stefan Zweig’s biography of the queen, skipping the guillotine but lingering on the gowns. That early fascination blossomed into a lifelong muse. Blahnik not only created the shoes for Coppola’s film delicate mules, kitten heels, and jewel-encrusted slippers but has now unveiled a capsule collection inspired by the queen’s aesthetic, timed to the exhibition’s opening.
Moschino by Jeremy Scott collection AW 2020
Displayed alongside original sketches and archival designs, Blahnik’s new collection is a confection of frills, florettes, and frayed silk. The Valois pump, with its iridescent pink sheen and box-pleat detailing, nods to the film’s most iconic footwear moment. The Rohan, in powder-puff pastels, channels the Rococo exuberance of Versailles. And the Montemedy, with its hand-cut florettes and brocaded patterns, pays homage to Antoinette’s furniture and floral motifs.
Manolo Blahnik shoes and sketches created for Sofia Coppola’s movie
“These shoes are not just accessories,” Blahnik explains. “They’re storytelling devices. They speak of elegance, rebellion, and the performance of femininity.” His designs, like Coppola’s film, reframe Marie Antoinette not as a cautionary tale, but as a proto-influencer a woman who used fashion to craft identity, assert agency, and leave a legacy.
The exhibition also explores this idea of fashion as soft power. Marie’s collaboration with dressmaker Rose Bertin, her rejection of rigid court dress in favour of the chemise à la reine, and her embrace of pastoral aesthetics at the Petit Trianon all are presented as acts of self-expression and subtle defiance. Even her infamous spending habits are contextualized as part of a broader performance, one that blurred the lines between queen and celebrity.
Marie Antoinette-inspired Dior couture by John Galliano is showcased alongside Maria Grazia Chiuri’s custom designs for the BBC’s Marie Antoinette series.
And yet, Marie Antoinette Style does not shy away from the darker chapters. Her prison chemise, the guillotine blade, and the final note she wrote before her execution are all on display. These artefacts remind us that beneath the artifice was a young woman caught in the crosshairs of history.
In the end, the exhibition dares us to reconsider Marie Antoinette not as a caricature, but as a complex icon stylish, scandalous, and strangely modern. With Coppola’s cinematic lens and Blahnik’s exquisite craftsmanship as guiding stars, the V&A has created more than a fashion show. It’s a resurrection. And in the candlelit hush of its galleries, you might just hear the rustle of silk and the echo of a queen reclaiming her narrative.
Exhibition closes Sunday, 22 March 2026