Marie Antonia Josepha Joanna of Habsburg-Lorraine, or more simply Marie Antoinette (Vienna, November 2, 1755 – Paris, October 16, 1793): an unfortunate queen innocently guillotined, or a victim of Jacobin revolutionary fury? Nearly two and a half centuries later, the question still divides historians. The Queen of France was likely both of these things at once. However, there is one aspect on which everyone agrees, thanks in part to the film that attempted to reevaluate her figure: Marie Antoinette was also a trendsetter. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London is dedicating an exhibition to her, Marie Antoinette Style (September 20, 2025 – March 22, 2026), exploring the influence of the most fashionable queen in history, spanning design, fashion, cinema, art, and jewelry.
The Queen was a great collector of jewelry: some were rare personal artifacts, some still appear at auction, as happened last June, when Christie’s put up for sale a rare 10.38-carat fancy purple-pink kite-shaped diamond that belonged to Marie Antoinette, which sold for $14 million.
According to Tobias Kormind, CEO of 77 Diamonds, “Jewelry is the undisputed star of this important exhibition, which celebrates creativity and the ties between France and the United Kingdom. This is the first exhibition in the UK entirely dedicated to Marie Antoinette, showcasing extraordinary jewels and other highly prized objects that have never before left France. Among them are her iconic pearl and diamond pendant, famous for being smuggled on the eve of the French Revolution and subsequently sold for a record $36 million, and an exact replica of the legendary Boehmer and Bassange diamond necklace, at the center of the scandal that helped overthrow the French monarchy. Throughout history, jewelry has expressed power, personality, and politics, and Marie Antoinette’s story is the most striking example.”
Reflecting the Queen’s passion for jewelry, highlights of the V&A exhibition include a world-record pearl and diamond necklace sold in 2018 for $36 million, the Sutherland Necklace, believed to contain diamonds from the infamous Diamond Necklace Affair (a scandal that irreparably tarnished Marie Antoinette’s reputation and contributed to the downfall of the French monarchy and the French Revolution). Alongside the jewels, the exhibition also features many objects from the past and present connected to the Queen: portraits, one of her pink beaded slippers, a set of chairs, and a crystal flask labeled eau de cologne.
