Marie Antoinette The Queen Who Never Left the Stage

Photo: Peter Kelleher

Few historical figures command the kind of fascination Marie Antoinette still does. She has been called frivolous, fashionable, doomed, daring — and, more than anything, unforgettable. This fall, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London is leaning into that obsession with Marie Antoinette Style, on view September 20, 2025 through March 22, 2026. The exhibition proves the queen may have lost her head, but never her crown as an icon.

From the moment you step into the show, you’re invited to view her not just as a queen of France, but as a woman who understood the power of performance long before Instagram existed. Gowns, jewels, and portraits reveal how she used style as both armor and expression, crafting an image that was adored and despised in equal measure.

The exhibition is more than a parade of silks and feathers. Yes, there are fragments of court dresses and delicate slippers that once swept through Versailles, but there are also Dior gowns, Vivienne Westwood confections, and Moschino’s playful riffs — proof that Antoinette’s influence has never stopped inspiring. In one gallery, a portrait by Vigée Le Brun shows the queen holding a rose, all soft femininity and subtle defiance; across the room, a couture gown echoes the same silhouette centuries later. The conversation between past and present is deliberate — and dazzling.

But it isn’t all froth and fantasy. Alongside the fashion spectacle are artifacts that remind us of her humanity: her final letter, written with heartbreaking clarity; relics from her imprisonment; and fragments of the world she built at the Petit Trianon, where she attempted a quieter life beyond the rigid rituals of court. These moments strip away the myth and reveal a woman trying, and often failing, to control her own narrative.

And that’s perhaps why she endures. Marie Antoinette was the original lifestyle curator. She built her own rustic hamlet to escape formality, staged portraits that could rival any glossy magazine spread, and understood that image was everything. Centuries later, we’re still captivated by her contradictions — both muse and monarch, scapegoat and star.

The brilliance of Marie Antoinette Style lies in its ability to show us all of these layers at once. It is immersive, theatrical, occasionally cheeky, and surprisingly poignant. Walking through its rooms, one can’t help but think: had she been alive today, Marie Antoinette wouldn’t just be trending — she would be setting the trend.

If You Go ✦

Marie Antoinette Style

Victoria & Albert Museum, London

September 20, 2025 – March 22, 2026

vam.ac.uk