Marie Antoinette Style: V&A Museum, UK

Marie Antoinette Style is the UK’s first exhibition dedicated to the French queen, a complex historical figure and enduring fashion icon. The show traces the origins and revivals of her bold approach to fashion in the late eighteenth century, an era defined by her youth, notoriety, and distinctive aesthetic.

Studio ZNA’s lighting design immerses visitors in this flamboyant world, using shadowplay and decorative effects to create a journey of theatre, grandeur, and glamour. In collaboration with OMMX, Studio ZNA has shaped a bespoke experience across seven rooms. The design draws on references to Versailles and Marie Antoinette’s life, with varied lighting techniques evoking a unique atmosphere and impression as visitors move through the exhibition.

Visitors immediately catch a glimpse of the grandeur that lies beyond as they first enter the exhibition, before stepping into the Hall of Mirrors. For this space we designed a scheme that evokes the look and feel of an abstracted candlelit chandelier with dynamic reflections across the walls, floor and mirror back of cases to create a dramatic infinity effect. We created these chandeliers in a cost effective and sustainable manner. Reusing discs from a previous exhibition we added large reflective gold and silver sequins strung from an almost invisible cable to create clusters of sparkles. Within the top of the ‘chandelier’ we integrated small low glare downlights to light the reflective discs and create a pattern on the floor. We supplemented this with DMX programmed theatrical fittings lighting slivers of the chandeliers with a gentle change in brightness timed with the soundtrack to create movement and twinkling.

Entering a daytime scene, visitors enter the informal gardens of the Le Petit Trianon, home to the Temple of Love, which is illuminated with the gentle glow of a diffused ceiling lightbox enveloping the garments in a soft luminous light. The lightbox is supplemented by mini spotlights in the top and bottom to focus in on details while maintaining a 50 lux conservation environment.

A bold contrast from previous rooms, the Death Room explores the opposite end of Marie Antoinette’s life. Low-lit and quiet, with chapel-like lighting it captures the transformation from confinement in her prison cell before her execution.

The exhibition closes with a dynamic, glowing scene of contemporary fashion. The space takes inspiration from Marie Antoinette’s grottos and the lake.  Set at the time of dawn the objects are set against glowing hues of pink within the grotto and the morning light dancing off the lake, the visitors leave the exhibition on a celebratory note.

Credits:

V&A Exhibition Project Curators: Sarah Grant and Helena Cox
Exhibition Design Team: OMMX
Graphic Design: Kellenberger-White
Contractor: Setworks Ltd
Sound Design: Father Sound
AV Design: Wild Island Films
Sponsored by: Manolo Blahnik