Sandhya Garg — The Let Them Eat Cake Collection
Let Them Eat Cake: A Collection for the First Queen Who Dressed for Her Image
Versailles · Rose Pompadour & Cornflower · Hand Embroidery · 12 Pieces · XS–3XL
Quick Answer
The Let Them Eat Cake collection is inspired by Marie Antoinette — less by her excess than by the way she used clothes. She understood, earlier than almost anyone, that what you wear is how the world sees you, and the V&A's recent exhibition Marie Antoinette Style made exactly that case. The collection translates her world into modern dresses: Versailles scrollwork prints, hand embroidery, and a palette of rose, cornflower blue and gold taken from the porcelain and gardens she loved.
Marie Antoinette was many things — controversial, extravagant, endlessly fascinating — but above all, she was a fashion icon. Her influence on how women dressed spread across Europe in her lifetime and has echoed through fashion ever since.
This collection is my love letter to that spirit. Not the excess, but the confidence — the willingness to wear something extraordinary and choose joy in how you present yourself. (And no, she almost certainly never said "let them eat cake". That story, and how the prints were made, is in hand-making the prints.)
Why Everyone Was Talking About Her Again
From September 2025 to March 2026, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London staged Marie Antoinette Style, the first exhibition in the UK devoted to her. W Magazine described it as tracing how she used fashion as a form of power — in effect, a blueprint for modern celebrity. Time Out's reviewer named it her top non-art exhibition of 2025, and Forbes covered its sweep from her own wardrobe to the designers she still inspires.
The Château de Versailles lent around twenty works, including pieces of her own porcelain and Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun's portrait Marie-Antoinette à la rose, which Versailles describes as an informal, almost intimate portrayal of a reigning queen. That word — informal — is the key to her whole story, and to this collection.
She arrived at Versailles at fourteen and spent nearly twenty years there. What she wore was never just clothing — it was how a whole country decided who she was.
Three Things She Changed
A designer as a celebrity
Her dressmaker, Rose Bertin, became so influential she was nicknamed the "Minister of Fashion". It's one of the first times a clothes-maker became famous in her own right.
Informal as a statement
In 1783 she was painted in a simple muslin gown, the chemise à la reine. It caused such outrage that the portrait was replaced with one of her in silk — à la rose. The simple dress won anyway, and changed fashion for decades.
A private world
At the Petit Trianon, her retreat in the grounds of Versailles, she set her own rules — gardens, a model village, and dresses made for walking rather than for ceremony.
The Palette: Rose, Cornflower and Gold
The colours in this collection come from the objects of her world. The famous court pink is rose Pompadour, the ground colour developed for Sèvres porcelain in the 1750s. And one of the works Versailles lent to the V&A was her own Sèvres service, patterned in pearls and cornflowers — tiny blue flowers and white beads on a soft ground. Pink, blue, pearl and the gold of the palace itself: that's the whole palette.
Rose and cornflower on the Carolina, royal blue on the Marquis, the greens of the Trianon gardens on the Antonia.
The Collection · Twelve Pieces · Her Four Worlds
Let Them Eat Cake
Grouped by the parts of her life they draw from — the court, the Trianon gardens, her dressmaker's workroom and the young Dauphine.
The Court — Evening at Versailles
The Petit Trianon — Gardens, Walking, Ease
Rose Bertin's Workroom — Embroidery & Ornament
The Dauphine — Jackets for the Young Queen-to-Be
Limited edition · XS–3XL where stocked · Made to measure if your size has gone
Style It Like Royalty — Without the Costume
| The occasion | How to wear it |
|---|---|
| Formal evening | The Marquis or Carolina, pearl drop earrings to echo the pearls-and-cornflowers palette, and a soft updo. No necklace — the neckline does that job. |
| Garden party or wedding | The Antonia or Louis with block heels for the lawn. The Fleur jacket over the top when the evening cools. |
| Cocktails | The Marie mini with gold heels and a small clutch. Let the embroidery be the statement. |
| Everyday | The Dauphine or Allie jacket over jeans and a white shirt. Versailles, but for a Tuesday. |
Frequently Asked Questions
What was Marie Antoinette's fashion style?
At court she wore elaborate silk gowns, towering hairstyles and pastel colours. Away from it, especially at the Petit Trianon, she favoured simpler, looser dresses like the muslin chemise à la reine. Her dressmaker Rose Bertin was so influential she was nicknamed the "Minister of Fashion".
What was the V&A's Marie Antoinette Style exhibition?
The first UK exhibition devoted to Marie Antoinette, held at the V&A in London from 20 September 2025 to 22 March 2026. It explored her influence on fashion and design over 250 years, with loans from the Château de Versailles that included her porcelain and Vigée Le Brun's portrait Marie-Antoinette à la rose.
What was the chemise à la reine?
A simple, loose gown of white muslin that Marie Antoinette made fashionable. When Vigée Le Brun painted her wearing one in 1783, it caused a scandal for being too informal for a queen, and the portrait was replaced with one of her in silk. The style spread anyway.
What colours was Marie Antoinette known for?
Soft pastels — pinks, pale blues and creams — with gold. The collection's palette draws on Sèvres porcelain's rose Pompadour and on her own porcelain service, decorated with pearls and cornflowers.
Did Marie Antoinette say "let them eat cake"?
Almost certainly not. The line is attributed in Rousseau's Confessions to "a great princess", describing a time when she was still a child in Austria. The full story is in hand-making the prints.
Will the collection be restocked?
It's a limited edition, so sizes aren't reordered once they sell. If yours has gone, made to measure is available.
Keep Reading
The Making
Hand-Making the Prints
Toile de Jouy and the drawings.
Another Collection
Love Gaudí & Trencadís
Barcelona's broken-tile mosaic.
Wearing Prints
The Print Ladder
Nervous about prints? Start here.
Where to Wear It
Wedding Guest by Venue
Garden, ballroom and more.
About the Writer
Sandhya Garg is a Project Runway Season 13 designer who won two challenges on the show and presented her collection at Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week. She studied womenswear and textile design at London College of Fashion and worked at Alexander McQueen, Gucci, Liberty London, and Alice Temperley. She draws every print by hand from art history and travel — featured in Marie Claire, Elle, Cosmopolitan and Vogue online, in sizes XS–3XL with made to measure available.
Project Runway · Vogue · Marie Claire · XS–3XL
Dress like the world is watching.
Sandhya Garg is a Los Angeles boutique creating limited-edition artisanal dresses in original hand-drawn prints, hand embroidery and heritage textiles. Sizes XS–3XL, shipped from Scottsdale within 1–3 days.
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