From rags to runway

This autumn, the V&A unveils a captivating exhibition dedicated to Marie Antoinette, the ill-fated French queen whose brief yet eventful life continues to bewitch audiences and fuel the creative imagination. Marie-Claire Chappet traces her enduring influence on culture and fashion

Why is there still pressure for literary authors to dress down in order to be taken seriously? For bestselling novelist Coco Mellors, fashion helps her channel her inner confidence

Marie Antoinette’s passion for furniture and genius for bagatelles, however evanescent their purpose, filled the French royal palaces with beauty and charm, as Matthew Dennison reveals

ALEXA CHUNG HAS BEEN MANY THINGS – MTV GIRL, CREATIVE DIRECTOR, BALLET-FLAT AFICIONADO – BUT SHE REMAINS, FOREVER, A BRITISH STYLE ICON. IN CONVERSATION WITH NICOLA COUGHLAN, SHE REFLECTS ON THE INDIE-SLEAZE ERA (’IT REALLY WAS AS FUN AS IT LOOKED’) AND REVEALS HER NEXT MOVE

With a strength of character that belied her fragile looks, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun pushed the boundaries of royal portraiture and, after the French Revolution, challenged the loss of female influence via every frill and fold in her work

On the catwalk, this season’s most covetable prints are gallery-worthy. Naomi Pike traces fashion’s renewed love of wearable art