I was commissioned to make a series of wigs for the “Marie Antoinette Style” exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum which opened on 20th September 2025 and runs until 22nd March 2026. These wigs were two of twenty-four I made and were coined the “Curled Wigs”.
These two wigs were to have tight curls up either side and a curled ponytail, one was to be black and the other ivory. They were both constructed onto frames made of Rigiline boning, the black frame was covered in black bias binding.
THE BLACK WIG
The black version of this wig was based on a reference images showing a “The hunt as haute couture” fancy dress costume from 1897, made by the famous House of Worth for the Devonshire ball. The event was a fancy-dress ball celebrating Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, and many guests wore costumes based on historical figures. The court of Marie Antoinette was one of five themes at the ball. As with other of the historic-style wigs I made for this exhibition, as the objects are in showcases it is hard to take a good photograph!
Fancy dress costume
House of Worth
1897
Worn with a tricorne style hat
Auguste Petit
1897
The black wig was built up using various elements including rolled “tubes” down each side, and then a ponytail curving off to one side. The top face of the wig was left fairly flat to accommodate the tricorne-style hat that was mounted on top of it. The ponytail was “tied” with a black ribbon into a bow-shape.
THE IVORY WIG
The ivory version of this wig was due to be of the same style as the black one pictured above, but the curators requested a change to the style during the making process so that it better matched images later supplied to me of the actress Elle Fanning playing Catherine II in the tv series The Great.
As the costume designer for The Great, Sharon Long was tasked with creating period costumes for the satirical, “occasionally true” series about the life Catherine the Great of Russia. Her work is noted for its ability to balance historical influences with the show’s whimsical, anachronistic, and character-driven narrative. 18th-century Russia followed the fashions set by Marie Antoinette’s court which can be seen in this toile de Jouy gown. This fabric was designed by Sharon Long and Benjamin Thapa. Toile de Jouy is a decorative fabric named after the town of Jouy-en-Josas near Paris, where it was first printed by Christophe-Philippe Oberkampf starting in 1760. It features monochrome, repetitive scenes of rural life, mythology, or other popular themes printed on white or off-white cotton or linen.
Upper image on the right:
Gown, hat and accessories worn by Elle Fanning in The Great, Season 3, Episode 3
Sharon Long
2023
In the haste of posting a batch of wigs off to museum for a deadline, I didn’t manage to capture a completed picture of this wig in my studio. As there were a lot of alterations made, I have many images of different iterations of this wig. Below shows one of the back of the wig, nearest to completion. Further “curls” were added by attaching thin strips of crinoline underneath the front hairline of the wig and twisting them and fixing them either side. An extra upper layer of crinoline was also added on to the top of the curly ponytail by the Textiles Conservators at the V&A Museum.
About:
- The wigs were made to fit onto both papier-mâché and abstract fibreglass mannequin heads.
- The wigs were constructed onto frames made of Rigilene boning, with the black version covered in black bias-binding.
- They were made from different colours of crinoline, built up in many layers and shaped using stitches to match the hairstyle in reference images I was given of Marie Antoinette.
- The curly ponytail of the ivory wig was made by covering a wire ringlet with dress netting and an upper layer of crinoline.
More details about the project as a whole and how I made these wigs can soon be read in a blog post here.
The exhibition is currently touring and will next be on display at The Yokohama Museum of Art in Japan from August 1st – November 23rd 2026.