All About Manolo Blahnik's Marie Antoinette Capsule Collection

Less let them eat cake and more let them wear shoes! (Manolo Blahniks, that is). With a capsule collection that Carrie Bradshaw would have swooned over, Manolo Blahnik is celebrating the opening of the V&A’s Marie Antoinette exhibition with shoes bespangled with jewels, ribbons and ruffles - all fit for a French Queen.

Marie Antoinette Style at the V&A, opening its doors this Saturday 20th September, celebrates the timeless fashion of a stylish, complex (and ill-fated) 18th Century fashion icon. As Queen of France, she was a prominent figure during the final years of the pre-French Revolution age of the Ancien Régime and during the prime time of the Rococo fashion era – hence her towering hair, beaded and bountiful Parisian style and voluminous gilded gowns that rejected tradition and channelled her self-expression.

As for the shoes that dressed her feet… these ranged from ornately embellished mules to kitten-heeled slippers crafted from silk and leather, made to order – obviously – no Cinderella situations were at hand for this Royal. A pair of her beaded pink slippers will be on display as part of the V&A’s exhibition, alongside numerous other artefacts showcasing her influence on over 250 years of design, fashion, film and art. From a crystal flask of her Eau de Cologne to Kate Moss embodying her style in a Vogue photoshoot and, of course, a dive into the Manolo Blahnik archives.

Manolo Blahnik’s fascination with Marie Antoinette’s fashion sense is no new development in the shoe designer’s portfolio, having created the shoes for Milena Canonero’s Oscar-winning costumes in Sofia Coppola’s 2006 film ‘Marie Antoinette’, where Kirsten Dunst dazzled in puffy laced skirts with feathered hair and fans a-flutter.

Beyond this creative contribution to the backstage Hollywood wardrobes, there are a series of notable shoe designs that have clear nods to Antoinette’s aesthetic. The interest traces back to Blahnik’s childhood, where his mother would read him Stefan Zweig’s 1932 biography to lull him to sleep. Now, as part of the V&A exhibition, an edit of these handcrafted Marie Antoinette-inspired styles will be on display alongside their original sketches. This will be the first time that Blahnik displays his working drawings, a full-circle moment as his design process for many of the frilly pastel-hued pairs began right where they will be shown, at the V&A – where he looked to the 18th Century shoe archives for inspiration.

Onto the shoes you can snap up for yourself! To celebrate the opening of Marie Antoinette Style at the V&A, Manolo Blahnik is releasing a Marie Antoinette capsule collection of 11 new styles. Laced within the collection are odes to four different points of inspiration. With glistening iridescent pink and frayed silk fringing, Valois takes its cue from a pair of pumps seen on screen in Sofia Coppola’s film. Finished with box-pleat detailing and a pale brooch, the delicate ornamental style also nods to Antoinette’s love of fine jewellery.

Rohan is classically Rococo, with candy-like pastel colourways and criss-cross laced ribbon travelling up from the toe to a ruffled frill edge. The use of powder-pink in these designs links to Antoinette’s famed rose gardens in the grounds of Versailles, as well as her make-up looks, topped with her signature flush of rouge. Fontanblas draws inspiration from the Swedish artist Adolf Wertmüller’s 1785 portrait of Marie Antoinette, incorporating a hand-placed striped Claremont fabric inspired by a jacket the queen wore in the painting.

Last, but by no means least, Montemedy nods again to the costume wardrobes of Coppola’s film, with intricate three-dimensional florettes cut and tufted by hand and ornate fabric patterns derived from Antoinette’s florally brocaded furniture. Each design is an intricately handcrafted, wearable masterpiece melding Blahnik’s archives with the decorative opulence of Marie Antoinette.

The capsule collection will launch globally alongside the exhibition, opening on the 20th of September 2025 at the V&A South Kensington. It will be available exclusively at Manolo Blahnik stores and online.

Find out more about the capsule collection here and book tickets to Marie Antoinette Style at the V&A here.