13 Marie Antoinette-Inspired Moments on the Runway
These runway looks scream "Let them eat cake!"
No one in the history of fashion has done grandiose eccentricity better than the ill-fated Queen of France Marie Antoinette. Her sartorial influence on and off runway shows, from Rihanna's Fenty x Puma collaboration in 2017 to Moschino's Fall/Winter 2020 collection by Jeremy Scott, warrants the controversial royal icon status. Even after 227 years since her fall from grace, Marie Antoinette's impact is embedded in our popular culture and persists notably within the realm of fashion. The 2006 movie eponymously titled Marie Antoinette directed by Sofia Cappola gives us a teen-movie-like glimpse into Marie Antoinette's lavish little world before her tragic fate at the guillotine, with costumes topped with balloon-like skirts and over-the-top Rococo revival updos that inspired a generation of designers today.
There's something so appalling yet so alluringly entertaining about the opulent lifestyle and unmatchable style of Marie Antoinette that we're all drawn to. Thanks to fashion and royal runway looks, the frivolous queen's image seems to have altered from a self-indulgently acquisitive to eccentrically fashionable.
