V&A to host exhibitions on Marie Antoinette and design and disability in 2025

The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) has announced it will host exhibitions about French queen Marie Antoinette and design and disability in 2025.

Its programme of events at the South Kensington venue also includes an exhibition dedicated to the creations of Cartier, which will feature more than 350 objects and run from April 12 2025 to November 16.

The display will chart the evolution of the house’s legacy of art, design, and craftsmanship since the turn of the 20th century and showcase drawings from the V&A and Cartier archives, together with works lent by the King from the Royal Collection, major UK and international museums, and private collections.

Bandeau in emerald, ruby, sapphire, diamond and platinum, Cartier London, 1928 (Victoria and Albert Museum, London/PA) PA Media

After this the exhibition Design And Disability, running from June 7 2025 to February 15 2026, will show how disabled, deaf, and neurodiverse people and communities have influenced culture by showcasing the work of disabled creators.

The exhibition Marie Antoinette Style, being staged from September 20 2025 to March 22 2026, will explore the origins and revivals of a style shaped by the queen, who was famously guillotined during the French Revolution.

The historical figure has had a lasting impact on design, fashion and culture, and was the inspiration behind Sofia Coppola’s 2006 film starring Kirsten Dunst, which won an Oscar for costume design.

There will also be an exhibition called Making Egypt at the Young V&A in Hackney between February 15 2025 and November 2, which will feature ancient artefacts and explore how stories and images of ancient Egypt continue to influence art, design and popular culture today.

Elsewhere, V&A Dundee’s 2025 programme will include the exhibition A Fragile Correspondence, opening this November, which will take visitors on a journey through three Scottish landscapes across the Highlands, Islands and Lowlands, mapping a collection of ideas by architects, artists and writers.

This project was selected to represent Scotland at the 18th Venice Biennale of Architecture in 2023, an international exhibition inviting participants to engage with ideas for the environments we live in.

Then, in May 2025, Garden Futures: Designing With Nature will look at some of the world’s most pioneering gardens, alongside the work of international artists, designers and landscape architects.

An array of objects by artists and designers including ceramics, fashion, painting, textiles, sculpture, interior design, drawings and photographs will go on display in the Scottish museum as part of the exhibition.

Tristram Hunt, V&A director, said: “From showstopping jewels and ancient amulets to innovative architecture and product design to fashion fit for a queen, the V&A’s ambitious 2025 programme across our family of sites will celebrate creativity, ingenuity and craftsmanship.

“The V&A will mix the historic with the contemporary and academic rigour with spectacular exhibition design to champion design and creativity in all its forms, advance cultural knowledge, and inspire makers, creators and innovators everywhere.”