Marie Antoinette Style

Last year Sotheby’s in Geneva sold a Georgian diamond tasselled necklace for US$4.8 million. The spectacular jewel, known as the Anglesey Diamond Négligé necklace, is a highlight alongside other precious treasures that belonged to Marie Antoinette in a major exhibition, Marie Antoinette’s Style, at the V&A. 

It is rumoured that some of the Anglesey diamonds are from the notorious necklace that led to the downfall of the French queen in what is known as the ‘Affair of the Necklace’. These reputedly royal diamonds were originally mounted in a necklace commissioned by her grandfather-in-law Louis XV for his mistress, Madame du Barry. Both died before it was completed or paid for. Fraudsters pretending to act on Marie Antoinette’s behalf took possession of it leaving the ill-fated queen pursued for the bill. The scam caused a huge scandal in 1784, just years before the 1789 revolution.

The Anglesey necklace is exhibited alongside a 1960s replica of the Marie Antoinette necklace together with the Countess of Sutherland’s diamond necklace. Family legend has it that the Indian diamonds were salvaged from the stolen necklace, which had been dismantled, and the diamonds sold to London jewellers.

These and other jewels that had remarkably survived the French revolution add sparkle to an already sumptuous display at the V&A.  The young queen was the fashion icon and influencer of her day, scrutinised and controversial for her love of extravagance. As her portraits illustrate, apart from beautiful finery she had a fondness for pearls and bows, a signature design of the period. In a portrait by Élizabeth-Louise Vigée Le Brun she wears simple rows of pearls. In another by François Hubert Drouais she wears a bow choker of diamonds. Aside from wearing them, pearls also played a starring role in one of her Sèvres porcelain dinner services, embellishing the edges of the dishes.

One of the survivors of the revolution is an enchanting baroque-shaped pearl and diamond bow pendant. Marie Antoinette wore it suspended from a three-strand pearl necklace with matching pearl earrings. Fortunately, it and other jewels were smuggled out of France via the Austrian ambassador and saved for her only surviving daughter Marie-Thérèse. The pendant later appeared in an auction alongside 10 other pieces from the queen’s personal collection and other French royal jewels owned by the Bourbon Parma family at Sotheby’s in 2018. With such enviable provenance the pendant sold for $36.2 million.

There are more diamond bows in the exhibition including a double ribbon bow brooch set with a yellow diamond, which is thought have been added in the 19th century, and diamond bracelet clasps with blue paste plaques featuring her cipher. Other rare items include fragments of her court dress, fans and beaded slippers shown alongside lavish examples of 18th century court dress worn by the French aristocracy. The exhibition extends into film and fashion featuring costumes from Sofia Coppola’s 2006 film Marie Antoinette and contemporary fashions by designers like Vivienne Westwood and John Galliano for Dior, demonstrating the ‘Marie Antoinette effect’.

Not all Marie Antoinette’s surviving jewels are in the exhibition. A rare kite-shaped pink diamond solitaire that belonged to her and then her daughter, mounted in a ring by JAR, was sold by Christie’s in May for £14.8 million. While in the archives of Mellerio, founded in Paris in 1613, is a Roman cameo bracelet mounted on silver with spinels, that family legend says Jean-Baptiste Mellerio sold to Marie Antoinette in 1780.

In a tribute, the queen inspired a spectacular high jewellery necklace that was unveiled by Mellerio in July. Called the Jardin des Rêves, the necklace with a pineapple pendant was drawn from a wall covering in the private apartments of Marie Antoinette. The queen similarly prompted a complete high jewellery collection from Paris-based Lydia Courteille. Called Marie Antoinette – The Dark Side it references the queen’s life away from court at the Trianon and later with cobwebs and spiders amongst the flowers reflecting her sad ending.

The exhibition runs until Sunday 22 March 2026 at the V&A South Kensington (Galleries 38 and 39, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL), with tickets priced at £23 on weekdays and £25 at weekends, concessions available, and advance booking strongly recommended.