Marie Antoinette premieres in the UK with an exhibition of royal proportions

The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) is preparing an unprecedented exhibition in the United Kingdom. Under the title Marie Antoinette Style, the London museum will present a retrospective dedicated to the figure of the French queen and her impact on fashion and the decorative arts from the 18th century to the present day.The exhibition will be on view from September 20, 2025 to March 22, 2026 in galleries 38 and 39 of its South Kensington headquarters.

The exhibition will feature 250 pieces, many of them from exceptional loans from the Palace of Versailles, never before seen outside France. Among the objects are the Queen’s silk shoes, jewelry from her private collection, pieces of clothing, her personal china from the Petit Trianon and the last note written before her execution.

In addition to original pieces from the 18th century, the exhibition will include contemporary garments by Dior, Chanel, Vivienne Westwood, Moschino and Valentino, as well as designs created for the cinema, including those by Sofia Coppola for her film Marie Antoinette, which won an Oscar for best costumes. Footwear, designed by Manolo Blahnik, will also be on display. The Spanish designer will also be an official sponsor of the exhibition.

The V&A explores the aesthetic impact of Marie Antoinette with more than 250 pieces

The narrative will be constructed through immersive resources, audiovisual installations and an olfactory experience to evoke the perfumes the queen used at court. The aim is to propose a contemporary reading of the character and her style, in constant dialogue with the present.

The exhibition will be divided into four thematic and chronological sections. The first, The Origins of a Style, will present the aesthetic evolution of Marie Antoinette from her arrival at Versailles in 1770 to her execution in 1793, and will include pieces such as a porcelain bowl in the shape of a breast from the Sèvres service.

The second part, Memorialised:The Birth of a Style Cult, will address the romanticization of the queen in the 19th century and her transformation into an icon of the French revival during the Belle Époque. The third block, Enchantment and Illusion, will explore her impact on Art Nouveau and Art Deco, through illustrations by Erté and dresses by Jeanne Lanvin. The final section, Re-Styled, will focus on the modern reclaiming of the character in film, music and fashion, with photographs by Tim Walker and contemporary works by artists such as Beth Katleman and designer Victor Glemaud.

The curator of the exhibition, Sarah Grant, has stressed that the project aims to reinterpret “the most fashionable, most scrutinized and controversial queen in history” and highlight her ability to reinvent herself in every generation. “This is the design legacy of a celebrity of the early modern era and the story of a woman whose power to fascinate has never waned,“ she said.