A dress made of filaments covered in red and orange sequins, decorated with large gold colored wings. A “flame” dress worn by Tina Turner in 1977 sits at the center of the exhibit Diva, dedicated to the queens of music by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Among the 250 items on display here until April 7, 2024, we also find an outfit inspired by Louis XIV, made of ostrich feathers, and a glittering wig adorned with a silver galleon, which Elton John wore on his 50th birthday in 1997, or Sky. A blue dress resembling a cosmic cloud, with its voluminous train, displayed by Lady Gaga during the Golden Globe ceremony in 2019.
The visitor walks among these artefacts wearing them, headphones on, which broadcast a soundtrack covering nearly two hundred years, during which the concept of diva dominated the world of show business. The word, which comes from the Latin for “goddess”, was first used by Théophile Gautier in 1831. “It was then used to describe the almost supernatural talent of 19th-century opera singers,” explains Kate Bailey, curator of the exhibition.
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