Versailles Was Her Runway

This autumn, the V&A South Kensington unveils one of its most ambitious fashion exhibitions to date, Marie Antoinette Style, a dazzling exploration of the most iconic queen of fashion history.

Running from September 20, 2025, to March 22, 2026, and sponsored by Manolo Blahnik, the exhibition is set to be a highlight of the international cultural calendar.

For the first time in the UK, audiences will encounter an unprecedented collection of over 250 objects, including personal treasures that once belonged to Marie Antoinette herself, from silk slippers and rare jewellery to intimate correspondence and effects never previously seen outside of Versailles.

This exceptional gathering of artefacts offers a rarefied glimpse into the aesthetic world of the last Queen of France, and the far-reaching legacy of the look she cultivated.

But Marie Antoinette Style is not merely a historical survey. It is an investigation into how one woman’s image, romanticised, reviled, and reinvented, became a visual language of power, femininity, and fantasy, still echoing through the work of today’s leading creatives.

Few figures have inspired such persistent cultural fascination. Born into Austrian royalty and crowned Queen of France at just nineteen, Marie Antoinette came of age amidst the opulence of Versailles.

Her tastes, once considered dangerously extravagant, set the blueprint for a fashion aesthetic defined by softness, excess, and rebellion cloaked in beauty.

The exhibition’s opening chapters trace her rise as a style-setter, bringing together original furnishings, garments, and objets d’art from the French court.

Highlights include her dinner service from the Petit Trianon, monogrammed accessories, and even a ‘breast cup’ from her famed Sèvres dairy; a whimsical, misunderstood piece that contributed to the mythology surrounding her.

While the historical artefacts are extraordinary, it’s the cross-century dialogue with contemporary fashion that sets this show apart. Designs by Dior, Chanel, Erdem, Valentino, and Vivienne Westwood reveal the queen’s unmistakable influence across eras.

Sofia Coppola’s cinematic retelling of her life is also revisited, with costumes and accessories from the Oscar-winning film on display, including bespoke Manolo Blahnik footwear created for actress Kirsten Dunst.

Marie Antoinette’s transformation from condemned queen to cultural icon is as much a story of reinvention as it is of influence.

Through romantic reinterpretations in the 19th century, her image was softened and sanctified by figures like Empress Eugénie, whose own court revived the ‘French style’ to sweeping effect in Britain and America.

Fancy dress, portraiture and decorative arts of the time recast the queen as an emblem of nostalgic elegance.

The narrative continues into the 20th century, where designers and illustrators, from Jeanne Lanvin to Erté, embraced her aesthetic as shorthand for fantasy, luxury, and escapism.

These chapters are brought to life through shimmering gowns, Art Deco prints, and rare ephemera that blur the boundaries between fairy tale and fashion history.

In its final section, the exhibition steps boldly into the now. Here, visitors encounter a dynamic portrait of Marie Antoinette as reimagined by a new generation of artists, performers and fashion visionaries.

Striking visuals by Tim Walker and Robert Polidori, alongside contemporary works by Victor Glemaud and Beth Katleman, show how her story continues to captivate and inspire; from editorial pages to pop videos, performance art to haute couture.

Designed as an immersive journey through time, Marie Antoinette Style pairs historical rigour with theatrical presentation.

Scent installations evoke the fragrance of the 18th-century court, while immersive staging offers visitors a dreamlike encounter with the visual and emotional language of the queen’s world and the fantasy it continues to fuel.

Curator Sarah Grant describes the exhibition as “a study in spectacle and symbolism of how one woman’s image came to define beauty, rebellion, and power across generations. Marie Antoinette’s story isn’t fixed in time; it’s one we’ve never stopped telling.”

For devotees of fashion, design, and the art of personal expression, Marie Antoinette Style is a meditation on the making of myth through style.

Drawing on exceptional craftsmanship, historical intrigue, and contemporary artistry, it reminds us that the most powerful fashion statements often outlast the eras in which they were born.

Tickets are now available, and early booking is advised.