If you happen to’re visiting London with teenagers who love style or historical past, the fascinating new Marie Antoinette Type exhibition on the V&A in South Kensington is unmissable.
With among the uncommon gadgets owned by the Queen herself, in addition to items from the 18th century, it’s an opportunity to be taught extra about her life and her affect on model at courtroom and at present.
And for anybody who dismisses style as frivolous must be ready to vary their thoughts, with all the pieces from politics and cultural values woven by way of the exhibition – as my Marie Antoinette Type overview goes to indicate, the actual fact we’re nonetheless speaking in regards to the 18th century Queen at present proves what an affect she had.
From fragrance and jewels to decorate and music, the exhibition traces her life proper as much as the tip, together with the scandals she was implicated in and the lies unfold about her.
And past her personal tragic finish, there’s an entire part on her enduring affect, from style to motion pictures and extra. All fantastically introduced, it’s a reminder that greater than two centuries later, her legacy lives on.
The exhibition begins with a portrait of the princess, with a quote from her mom, saying ‘All eyes can be on you’ – a prescient remark given how a lot scrutiny confronted Marie Antoinette by way of her lifetime.
However you’ll additionally see different portraits – the extra formal appears you would possibly affiliate with the French courtroom, but additionally Marie Antoinette with two of her kids, in addition to a extra casual look from later in life.
All of it goes to creating an image of the particular girl, fairly than the scandals and legends which have adopted her by way of historical past, a reminder that behind the Queen was nonetheless an individual.
If you happen to’re all in regards to the style ingredient, the exhibition launches straight in to the model too – a wonderful glimmering silver extravaganza worn by the long run Queen of Sweden, with big skirts and tiny waist. A mode additionally worn by the teenage Marie Antoinette, her sister-in-law was married in a really comparable costume too.
For sure, there are only a few gadgets really belonging to Marie Antoinette which survived the Revolution and the centuries, with most looted and reduce up as souvenirs, however the V&A has gathered a lot of them collectively, which makes this notably particular.
Marked along with her monogram, it’s simple to inform what was a uncommon royal possession – similar to a remnant of lavishly embroidered glowing cloth and beaded shoe – and what would possibly date from an analogous time however belonging to another person. And there’s a real thrill to see gadgets which the Queen would have dealt with.
With twirling gold decorations within the ceiling, it’s simple to really feel such as you’ve walked right into a gilded world and the attire on show are genuinely artworks.
Designed to indicate the totally different ranges of ritual required for various conditions at courtroom, there’s additionally an opportunity to see among the explicit materials and prints which Marie Antoinette liked, in addition to to marvel at how a lot work will need to have gone into these robes.
No shock, then, that the wearers wished to profit from the affect on different individuals, typically concealing their attire beneath a voluminous domino cloak (additionally on show), earlier than rising to indicate off their newest creation to its greatest impact.
It’s tempting to linger, absorbing each element, however that is nonetheless very a lot the start, with a lot extra to see.
Not least Marie Antoinette’s jewelry. The Queen liked sparkle, bringing a few of her personal jewels along with her on her marriage, in addition to accessing the French crown jewels. A few of her personal items do survive, similar to a pearl and diamond set, along with her jewels smuggled in a foreign country and ultimately given to her daughter.
Exhibited alongside her jewelry casket, it’s the primary time a few of these have been reunited for over 230 years.
However as ever with Marie Antoinette, there are extra tales to be discovered past the floor model – bejewelled shoe buckles a reminder of the lavishness of each side of courtroom, in comparison with a rustic the place many lived in poverty.
Nonetheless, there are additionally reminders that lots of the scandals which plagued the Queen weren’t of her personal making, together with the Diamond Necklace Affair, the place a conwoman used Marie Antoinette’s identify to make off with a fortune – blackening her status with out her really being concerned.
There’s a reproduction of the necklace itself on show, however much more fascinating, two units of jewelry utilizing diamonds thought to have come from the opulent diamond necklace on the coronary heart of the scandal, damaged up and brought in a foreign country the place they ended up within the fingers of the British the Aristocracy.
With the scene set, the exhibition then strikes by way of the Queen’s evolving model, from tendencies like Anglomania and animal print (a legacy of French colonialism), to her patronage of Sevres china.
Plus extra on her affect, whether or not that was celebrating a French victory with a mannequin ship in her extravagant towering hair, or her adoption of Rousseau’s beliefs in regards to the superiority of nature, even popularising breast-feeding.
In fact, this nonetheless left her dwelling miles from the on a regular basis actuality for most individuals in France. Whereas she might have had her ‘casual’ palace of the Petit Trianon to flee to within the grounds of the Palace of Versailles, it was hardly a rural idyll, as proven by the ornate armchair and gardening instruments designed to be equipment.
However the exhibition additionally exhibits you her model evolving, embracing informality over the inflexible etiquette of courtroom, plus one of many few interactive sections the place you’re transported to 18th century France by way of scent.
There’s an opportunity to smell a recreation of her fragrance and room scents amongst others, with the reminder that the gilded Versailles would even have stank. And to complete, one other reminder of what was to return, with the scent of her cell within the Conciergerie jail in Paris.
As a result of the gilded floor was already cracking. Within the background, the propaganda of her enemies painted her as sexually wicked, corrupt and an emblem of all that was worst in regards to the courtroom – there’s a small part displaying among the cartoons, though you’ll be able to skip it in the event you’re visiting with youngsters, for instance.
And ultimately, inevitably, the Revolution – which got here with its personal fashions, from tricolore cockades to indicate your assist, and easier fashions primarily based on male driving costume in distinction to lavish courtroom costume – a mode which, satirically, Marie Antoinette had been a fan of.
No-one visiting Marie Antoinette Type can be shocked by the final chapter of her story, and it’s introduced with all of the drama and pathos of her finish, with a blood-red tunnel main you into the room targeted on her imprisonment and execution aged solely 37.
The guillotine blade on show appears essentially the most surprising merchandise at first, presumably even the one which executed the queen. However wanting extra carefully on the different private gadgets of this girl we’ve come to know is much more transferring.
A locket with a lock of her son’s hair and a braid of her personal has astonishingly survived, an emotional reminder of her kids. And starkly easy, one of many final gadgets of clothes she wore – a easy white chemise, an undergarment which she would have utilized in jail, a world away from the spectacular fashions of earlier within the exhibition.
However whereas this marks the tip of her life, it’s removed from the tip of her story. The next rooms have a look at the best way her fashions had been mirrored over the centuries to return, and the way she was remembered, together with by Empress Eugenie of France, who collected her belongings and even wearing an analogous option to her royal predecessor.
And greater than two centuries on, she’s nonetheless inspiring designers to create catwalk appears, in addition to motion pictures, similar to Sofia Coppola’s 2006 movie Marie Antoinette.
The final, larger room is full of these items for some severe wow issue – Manolo Blahnik’s Marie Antoinette-inspired assortment, attire by John Galliano and Moschino, outrageous skirts and pastel macaron shades.
What would the Queen herself have considered it? I think about happy to know historical past has handled her extra kindly than her personal time – and first within the queue to attempt all the pieces on.
Do you have to go to Marie Antoinette Type with youngsters?
This actually isn’t an exhibition to attraction to youthful youngsters. Though there are just a few enjoyable interactive components, guests do must be sufficiently old to understand the gadgets on show, and have the endurance to cease and skim captions.
The attire are superb, however even little ones who’re obsessive about princesses are going to lose curiosity shortly.
Nonetheless you’ll be able to positively go to Marie Antoinette Type with youngsters as soon as they’re a bit older, notably in the event that they’re fascinated about style, design or historical past.
There’s little or no which is inappropriate: a small part on the sexual slurs used to blacken the Queen’s identify is straightforward to bypass, and nicely signed so that you received’t stumble into it by chance.
And whereas there’s a guillotine blade on show, except your little one is especially delicate, it’s unlikely to unnerve these sufficiently old to have an interest within the exhibition – you may additionally take that room shortly in that case.
In any other case, it’s going to return right down to your little one and their pursuits. A 9-year-old who’s fascinated by design would love the prospect to go to and revel in it greater than a young person who’s in search of a extra immersive attraction.
As a rule of thumb, I’d say it’s greatest suited to older tweens and teenagers – however don’t rule it out as being for adults solely.
Marie Antoinette Type: Have to know
The exhibition is operating till March 22, 2026, on the V&A South Kensington. Tickets value from £23 for grownup weekday entry, from £13 for age 12-17 (and college students with applicable ID), whereas kids beneath 12 enter free.
With restricted numbers, except you’re a member, tickets have been snapped up shortly for the opening months, so it’s nicely value reserving forward.
The exhibition is held in galleries 38 and 39 on degree 0. The Cromwell Street entrance is barely nearer (simply go straight forward by way of the store and switch proper) or it’s on the reverse finish of the constructing from the tunnel entrance/Exhibition Street entrance.
Enable at the very least an hour to discover – as one of many first in at 10am, the exhibition wasn’t notably busy after I visited (and entrances are staggered) however I might simply have spent longer inside if I had been capable of. I’d counsel permitting round 90 minutes to profit from the shows with out speeding.
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