Ooh La La Marie Antoinette at The V&A

 

The V&A 'Marie Antoinette Style' exhibition is literally mouth watering. I went along with my chum Vanessa and we walked around the sumptuous rooms grinning from ear to ear. It is such a confection and a delight in this time of weariness and worldly turmoil. 

I know she came to an awful sticky end and the exhibition doesn't shy away from that, but that fact doesn't determine the whole experience. 

This very clever picture above, which greets you as you enter the first room, was actually a moving image of her smiling and looking around, I did film it for you but my naughty computer will not load the film. Quite a lot of people entering the exhibition didn't even notice this clever portrait of her. I loved it.

But not as much as this chair.

I suspect most of my blogging chums know I have 'a thing' about the 18th century and the costumes from that era charm me and maybe even make me a bit giddy, how could they not?

The small fluffy white circles on this extraordinary dress panel are swan's down.

The delicate black ribboned collar was worn by Marie Antoinette as were the dazzling diamonds shown above. I have subsequently watched a short V&A film about these diamonds . They appear to be the catalyst for the downfall of Louis XV1 and Marie Antoinette.

I'll post another day with some more images from the exhibition, but I'll leave you now with a picture of a chair I spotted today in a local charity shop. Sadly already sold.