THEand roses of Versailles they bloom again, this time in the wardrobe. The androgynous heroine born from the manga of the same name by Riyoko Ikeda, consecrated in Italy by the famous anime Lady Oscar in the 1980s, it continues to exert a powerful fascination on fashion. THEHis fluid style, suspended between military rigor and romantic details, reappears today in the latest generation uniforms. Jackets adorned with buttons and decorations (on TikTok they are popular under the name of Napoleon jacket), shirts with lavallière bows, lace jabot collars, floral embroidery.
A craze that infects luxury houses such as Dior and low-cost brands such as Zaraand lands straight in the wardrobes of the stars, new champions of a timeless, aristocratic and combative aesthetic. More than simple nostalgia, it is the return of femininity in command, as demonstrated by the latest outfits by Margot Robbie, Jenna Ortega, Alexa Chung.
Who is Lady Oscar and why her style still speaks to us
Before being a trend, it was a generational myth. Lady Oscaralso published in Italy with the title, more faithful to the original, The roses of Versailleswas born as a manga written and illustrated by Riyoko Ikeda, serialized in Japan between 1972 and 1973. The anime arrived shortly after, between 1979 and 1980, but in Italy it exploded in 1982, becoming a true pop phenomenon. The story, set in eighteenth-century France against the backdrop of the Revolution, intertwines historical characters and imaginary figures: just like Oscar François de Jarjayes.
A noblewoman raised as a man by a father who desired a male heir: very loyal to Marie Antoinette, she becomes commander of the Royal Guard, but ends up siding with the people in the riots that precede the French Revolution. It is here that the character stops being just a novel heroine and becomes an icon. Because Lady Oscar is one of the first figures to have made contradiction desirable: uniform and romance, sword and rose, discipline and feeling, authority and vulnerability.
A frame from the anime Lady Oscar. (WOW Space Comics)
And this is also why her wardrobe continues to speak to us today. Jackets with golden buttons, insignia, frogs and friezes; shirts with bow at the neck; lace jabot collars; cloaks, embroidery, flowers. A visual lexicon that we now simplify with “genderless”, but which even then already had the power to describe a complex identity. Strong and beautiful, symbol of emancipation and freedomtaught us decades in advance that charm can lie precisely at the point where masculine and feminine stop fighting each other and begin to coexist.
From stars to fashion shows: the return of the Lady Oscar look
If today the champion style returns to be noticed it is because fashion once again wants garments with character, silhouettes with authority and a pinch of theatricality. The most immediate symbol of this revival is the so-called Napoleon jacket: a structured, embroidered jacket, often with metal buttons, frogs, epaulettes or trimmings, which translates the leader’s wardrobe into a contemporary key. The term has become popular on social media, but the visual reference is very clear: a military jacket with an aristocratic flavour, more narrative than the classic blazer and decidedly more spectacular.
A military-inspired look from the Alexander McQueen Spring Summer 2026 show.
Style, in reality, has a long history. One of the most memorable images remains Kate Moss at Glastonbury in 2005in the midst of the Pete Doherty era: denim micro shorts, biker boots and ivory military jacket. From that moment, the hussar or leader’s jacket ceases to be just a costume and becomes cool again. In the background, of course, there is also the memory of Michael Jackson’s stage jackets, which transformed the uniform into spectacle, performance, magnetism.
Kate Moss in Napoleonic jacket, micro shorts and leather jacket on stage at the 2005 Glastonbury Music Festival in England. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
Today the return was made official by the catwalks. From McQueen to Ann Demeulemeester, passing through Diorthe taste for the Napoleonic jacket and uniform silhouettes has returned with force, often lightened by more contemporary styling. Zara too and Mango intercept the trend with embroidered Napoleon jackets, models with jewel buttons or uniform cuts. And the celebs have already gotten the message: Zendaya, Jenna Ortega, Margot Robbie, Alexa Chung, Amanda Seyfried. All of them, in different ways, seem to draw on the same imagery, that of a femininity worn like a uniform.
Napoleonic jacket, Zara.
A pop quote that sometimes risks caricature? Only when Lady Oscar becomes just a costume and loses her most radical subtext, that of a heroine who opened the discussion on emancipation, identity and gender ambiguity well in advance. In short, the point is not to dress up as Lady Oscar. It’s understanding why her wardrobe continues to seem so contemporary to us.
How to combine the Napoleon jacket and uniform items in 2026
The golden rule is simple: quote her, don’t dress up as her. The paladin style works when it is lightened, broken up, made less literal. The important jacket, for example, must be balanced with more basic items: a pair of straight jeans, for example. But also some clean tailored trousers, pencil skirts or a simple slip dress.
Margot Robbie in vintage John Galliano at the premiere of “Wuthering Heights” in London in February 2026. (Photo by Ian West/PA Images via Getty Images)
Another key piece that returns in Spring Summer 2026 are the lavallière shirts, with the bow at the neck, or the lace jabot collars. They are the most romantic details of Oscar’s wardrobe, the ones that soften the rigor and transform the uniform into a seductive language.
Then there are the flowers, of course. Why Lady Oscar it is, originally, The roses of Versailles. So yes to embroidery, light brocades, botanical prints, details that act as a counterpoint to the discipline of the jacket. It is the most intelligent way to keep together the two poles of the character: the commander and the rose, the strength and the grace.
Ultimately, this is precisely what makes the Lady Oscar style so irresistible even today. It’s not just a question of buttons, insignia or vintage quotes: magnificence can still hide a purity of ideals. And perhaps that’s why, whenever fashion needs a champion, it always comes back to her.
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