MARIE ANTOINETTE AT THE V&A

There are some exhibitions you walk through…
and others you kind of step into.

The Marie Antoinette exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum felt like that.

I went while I was in London, not really knowing what to expect. I thought it would be beautiful — which it was — but I didn’t expect to notice quite so much about how everything was actually made.

It ended up staying with me in a completely different way.

A World Built in Silk and Structure

The first thing you notice is the scale.

These dresses aren’t made for comfort or ease — they’re made to create presence. The panniers push everything outwards, so the silhouette becomes really wide rather than long.

It almost feels architectural.

Looking at them as someone who sews, I couldn’t help but focus on the details:

• layers and layers of silk
• hand-finished seams
• embroidery that feels impossibly delicate
• structure hidden underneath all that softness

Nothing felt random. Every pleat, every trim, every ribbon had a purpose.

And yet, at the same time, everything looks so soft — pale colours, florals, all very feminine. It’s that mix of softness and control that really stood out.

The Scale of It All

One of the things I kept coming back to was the contrast.

Her waist — so small.
Her shoes — tiny, almost childlike.

And then the skirts… just huge.

The volume of fabric around her compared to how small she actually was felt quite striking. The panniers push everything out to the sides, so she would have taken up so much space, even though physically she was very slight.

And all I could think about was the weight of it.

Meters and meters of silk, layers built up, structure underneath — these weren’t light dresses. They must have been heavy to wear, to move in, to carry for hours.

They weren’t just clothes you put on.
They were something you had to hold yourself inside.

A Young Girl Inside All of That

Something else that really stayed with me was how young she was.

Married at 14 or 15… and then placed into this world where everything about how you looked mattered.

The clothing wasn’t just about style — it was expectation, status, presentation.

There’s something about that contrast that’s hard to ignore:

• a very young girl
• inside highly structured, formal clothing
• expected to present herself in a very specific way

It made the dresses feel different somehow.

Not just beautiful…
but part of something much bigger.

What You Don’t See at First Glance

What I found myself really drawn to was what sits underneath it all.

The stays, the panniers, the internal layers — all the things you don’t see straight away, but that actually create the shape.

It’s something I think about more now with my own sewing.

The structure isn’t separate from the beauty — it’s the reason it exists. It's something that came to mind again visiting the Giorgio Armani Privé retrospective in Milan — where that same discipline shows up in a completely different context.

Fashion, but Also Something More

What the exhibition does really well is show that this wasn’t just about clothing.

It was about identity.
About how you’re seen.
About what you’re trying to say — or maybe what’s expected of you.

The softness, the detail, the almost dreamlike feel of it all… it sits in contrast with what we know was happening around her at the time.

And that contrast stays with you.

A Small Moment That Stayed With Me

After visiting the exhibition, I found myself noticing things differently.

I actually went into Liberty London because, somehow, in all the years I lived in London, I had never been.

They also had Jones Road and Trinny London in the beauty section, which I’d been wanting to look at — so it felt like the perfect excuse to finally go in.

Up in the fabric department, they had displays inspired by Bridgerton.

And it just clicked.

All those soft florals, pastels, delicate prints — it’s the same kind of visual language. Just interpreted in a more modern, wearable way.

You could see how those historical shapes and ideas are still influencing what we’re drawn to now… just without all the structure underneath.

It made everything from the exhibition feel a bit more connected to the present.

Not just something from the past, but something that still shows up — in fabric, in color, in the way we think about femininity and softness.

A Note on Toile de Jouy

One fabric that kept coming to mind through all of this was Toile de Jouy.

It’s one of those prints you instantly recognise — soft scenes, usually in a single colour, almost like little stories across the fabric.

It became especially popular during her time, and you can see why.

It has that same feeling as the dresses:

• romantic
• detailed
• slightly idealised

Almost like life, but softened.

And even now, it still shows up — in interiors, in clothing, in fabrics we’re drawn to without always thinking why.

The Ending of the Story

Towards the end of the exhibition, everything shifts.

After all the structure, the silk, the detail… you’re suddenly faced with something completely different.

A simple white garment.
Plain. Light. Almost fragile.

Knowing she was executed wearing something like this makes it feel very real.

There’s no structure, no volume, no decoration — none of the things that defined how she was seen before.

Just something simple.

And then reading her final note… it stops you for a moment.

After everything — all the layers, all the expectation, all the presentation — it comes back to something very human.

What I Took Away From It

I walked through looking at dresses, but I left thinking about decisions.

Why that shape?
Why that fabric?
Why that structure?

It just reinforced something I keep coming back to:

It’s never just about how something looks.
It’s how it’s made… and what it’s doing. The Superfine: Tailoring Black Style exhibition at The Met explores exactly that — through a completely different lens.

Even now, I notice things differently — the balance between softness and structure, what’s underneath, how everything comes together.

Final Thoughts

This exhibition isn’t just about Marie Antoinette.

It’s about craftsmanship, detail, and the way clothing can completely change how someone is seen.

And maybe more than anything, it’s a reminder that behind something that looks effortless… there’s usually a lot going on underneath.

If You’ve Been Following Along

If you’ve been following my Fashion School Diaries, you’ll probably recognize why this stood out to me.

It’s that shift — from just seeing clothes, to really noticing how they’re put together.