France’s Most Famous Queen
Beaded slippers belonging to Marie Antoinette. Photo: Musée Carnavalet / Roger-Viollet
France’s most famous queen has been a wildly successful figure of modern pop culture, reappearing in fashion, film, and art time and time again. Her legacy has seemingly redeemed itself from a place of misunderstanding, as it is now public and common knowledge that she didn’t really say “Let them eat cake.” Thanks to Sofia Coppola’s hit film “Marie Antoinette” released in 2006, this once perceptively malicious historical figure has become revered by all. Reappearing on the runway, in museum exhibits, even halloween costumes, the culture can’t seem to escape this delectably dressed darling of France. Most recently, Marie Antoinette is honored in her own special exhibit at the V&A Museum in London. The exhibit highlights a combination of artifacts from the queen herself from throughout her reign and up until her death, and recent archives inspired by the monarch to tell her story in a much more celebratory way than her initial reputation in history books.
The exhibit begins by placing viewers into the shoes of 14 year old Marie Antoinette in the year 1770. Displayed are masterfully crafted, ornate gowns, including the wedding gown of Duchess Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotta (later Queen of Sweden), lined with detailed brocaded silk and stitched with silver thread. Although no complete gown of Marie Antoinette remains, her influence over fashion can be seen through the style of gowns like this one even in her own time. Her shoes, fans, and jewelry however, remain intact for viewers to further get a glimpse into the extravagance of her life, like these butter yellow beaded slippers that belonged to the Queen. Her fashion from her early days in court to her final days are displayed to tell her story, finalizing the culmination of her influence since her days at Versailles. The final room in the exhibit features iconic pieces from Manolo Blahnik heels for Sofia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette", to John Galliano for Dior couture, Moschino’s “Iced Cake” Dresses, and countless other Marie Antoinette inspired fashion of today. Her influence and reach is undeniable, and this exhibit celebrates those connections between the most iconic Queen of France and the fashion environment today.
The exhibition’s showstopping final room, filled with contemporary fashion. Photo: Peter Kelleher
The detail and research put into the exhibit by curator Dr. Sarah Grant is a reflection of the relatively newfound love, admiration, and curiosity about the pre-revolutionary queen. As breathtaking as the entire exhibit is, the magnificence lies in the final room. Museum-goers can really see the impact she’s made on modern taste, evidence that her extravagance and style is one of fashion and film’s biggest muses. This revolution for the anti-revolutionary is one of the most famous historical reputations to get debunked. History is written from a certain perspective, and for centuries that perspective shined a rather negative light on Marie Antoinette. Her real legacy has been unearthed by and inspired modern women, rewriting history from a female centered perspective.
There are many misconceptions about famous women throughout time and space, and these misconceptions are being questioned and looked into in modern times. Marie Antoinette was just 14 years old when she was shipped off to a foreign court from her home country of Austria. She married the heir to the throne, Louis XIV, and the couple became reigning monarchs at just 18 and 19 years old. She was a young adult who reveled in her exquisite taste, racking up an enormous debt that no doubt angered the population of France. It was this habit of opulence that garnered her reputation as a materialistic queen with no regard to the people of her ruling country, however it was this same habit that won her over in the hearts of modern audiences. In retrospect, she was a young girl thrust into an already deteriorating political and economic environment. It is this realization that she was not at all entirely to blame for the revolution, nor was she as callous as accounts have previously been, that put into perspective for many that she was human all the same. She wasn’t a perfect ruler by any standards, yet it seems her untimely entrance into the French court’s sphere of influence had negative consequences on how she is remembered in history.
John Galliano’s Marie Antoinette-inspired Dior couture pieces sit beside Maria Grazia Chiuri’s custom Dior couture for the BBC’s Marie Antoinette, behind which you’ll see Beth Katleman’s Marie Antoinette’s Folly. Photo: Peter Kelleher
A lot has been reimagined about Marie Antoinette. Historians may have known her true story for longer, but it takes the opinion of the masses to really change a reputation. From Madonna’s performance of her song Vogue when she dressed up as the queen herself, to countless references made across runways by brilliant designers like Galliano, Marie’s influence is everlasting and here to stay. Her iconic look has inspired countless projects, and it’s rewarding to see her memory celebrated in such a positive way through the V&A’s recent comprehensive exhibit. Her story is proof that history almost always has a bias, and through pop culture and the current zeitgeist we can begin to uncover a more complete account of historical figures from all across the globe. Her essence is unforgettable, and her lasting impact on art of all kinds is one that will be relevant for many years to come.
