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Victoria & Albert Museum
Cromwell Road
London
+44 (0)20 7942 2000
Magnificance of the Tsars, Ceremonial Men’s Dress of the Russian Imperial Court, 1721-1917 from the collection of the Moscow Kremlin Museums
December 10, 2008-March 2, 2009

A display of rare and lavishly decorated costumes and uniforms worn by the Tsars and court officials of Imperial Russia, most of which have never been exhibited before either in Russia or abroad, will be shown for the first time at the V&A this winter as part of an exchange between the V&A and the Moscow Kremlin Museums.

Magnificence of the Tsars will feature more than 40 superb ensembles from the collections of the Moscow Kremlin Museums, Russia’s oldest national Treasury. Highlights include outfits from the extensive gold and silver embellished wardrobe of the boy emperor Peter II, who reigned for just three years, and the coronation uniforms of the succeeding seven emperors ending with the last Russian Emperor, Nicholas II. The display concludes with a five metre long, ermine-trimmed Imperial coronation mantle identical to the one worn by Nicholas II in 1896.

The display will feature garments which have survived wars and revolutions and which have only recently begun to be studied in Russia. They show the work of the most eminent master craftsmen of the period, giving visitors a taste of the legendary magnificence and luxury of the Imperial Russian court.

In addition, there will be spectacular examples of fashionable 18th-century men’s dress and uniforms of court officials, coachmen and postilions.

The display will start in the 1720s with the wardrobe of the boy emperor Peter II. Peter died at the age of 14, having reigned between 1727 and 1730. The elaborate style and cut of his clothes reflect the French influence on the Russian Court.

The collection of Peter II’s clothes forms a ‘capsule’ wardrobe showing the range of his dress including his coronation waistcoat, breeches, stockings and underwear, and a selection of his exquisite coats and gowns. The exhibits reveal the high quality textiles and changing fashions adopted by the upper echelons of society. They contrast with the elegant restraint of uniforms donned by later Tsars under their glorious ceremonial robes.

These costumes demonstrate the originality and skill of the finest tailors, embroiderers and jewellers working for the Imperial Court and their use of embellished silks, intricate embroidery and lace. Some reflect the influence of Western Europe on the Russian Court. Others show how 19th-century Tsars began to adopt elements of traditional Russian costume reflecting a time of rising nationalism in Europe.

The display will include the historic fancy dress costume worn by Nicholas II to the Russian Ball of 1903; weapons worn at court; jewellery (including a jewelled telescope and embellished snuff boxes); portraits of the Tsars; and illustrated books.

The Magnificence of the Tsars is part of an exchange of displays between the V&A and the Moscow Kremlin Museums. The exhibition •Two Centuries of British Fashion•, showing 18th- and 19th-century British dress from the V&A’s collections, will open at the Kremlin Museums’ Armoury Museum on 5 September 2008. .

Coronation herald's tabard, 1796, © The Moscow Kremlin Museums.

Green wool coat worn by Emperor Peter II, 1727-1730, © The Moscow Kremlin Museums.

Messerschmitt Kabinenroller KR200, 1955 Fritz Fend, © Die Neue Sammlung (A. Laurenzo).

Scarf to commemorate the World Festival of Youth and Students for Peace, Berlin, August 1951 Pablo Picasso, © ADAP, Paris and DACS, London 2008.

Fashion photograph, 1960s John French, © V&A Images.

Jested Tower, 1968-73 Karel Huvacek, © Jiri Jiroutek.

Victoria & Albert Museum
Cromwell Road
London
+44 (0)20 7942 2000
Cold War Modern:
Design 1945-70
September 25, 2008-
January 11, 2009

Cold War Modern: Design 1945-70, is the first exhibition to examine contemporary design, architecture, film and popular culture on both sides of the Iron Curtain during the Cold War era. It brings together over 300 exhibits from a Sputnik and an Apollo Mission space suit to films by Stanley Kubrick, paintings by Robert Rauschenberg and Gerhard Richter, fashion by Paco Rabanne, designs by Charles and Ray Eames and Dieter Rams, architecture by Le Corbusier, Richard Buckminster Fuller and Archigram, and vehicles including a Messerschmidt micro-car.

The period after the Second World War was one of anxiety and tension but also one of great optimism and unprecedented technological development. The exhibition examines how design was shaped by the Cold War period against the backdrop of the battle between communism and capitalism, the advances of the space race, and the international competition to be modern.

Concentrating on the years from 1945 to 1970, the exhibition displays objects from around the world including the USA, the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Italy, France, East and West Germany, Cuba and the UK.

Highlights include:
• Classic Eames designs made of ‘modern’ materials such as fibreglass;
• Furniture inspired by space such as Eero Aarnio’s Globe Chair and the Garden Egg Chair by Peter Ghyczy;
• Dieter Ram’s designs for Braun including his T1000 Radio world receiver;
• Previously unseen Eastern bloc architecture, furniture, textiles, graphics and glass;
• Futuristic fashion by designers including Paco Rabanne and Pierre Cardin;
• New post-war forms of transport including the P70 Coupé (an early version of the plastic Trabant), the micro car Messerschmitt Kabinenroller and the Vespa motorscooter;
• Films which shaped the popular imagination such as Goldfinger, The Ipcress File, Dr. Strangelove, and 2001: A Space Odyssey as well as original set design drawings by Kenneth Adam;
• Works by Pablo Picasso, Richard Hamilton, Gerhard Richter, Lucio Fontana and Robert Rauschenberg illustrating the way artists responded to the dominant political and social ideas of the time;
• Propaganda and anti-nuclear posters, photography and sculpture from both East and West;
• Imagined futuristic architecture schemes for cities and dwellings by Hans Hollein, Archigram and Superstudio;
• Experimental designs for inflatable buildings, including a full-scale reconstruction of a key work by Haus-Rucker-Co.

The exhibition starts in the immediate post-war period showing differing visions for rebuilding devastated cities and competing ideas of modern life. It looks at new industrial products and building methods from the West as well as socialist realist art and architecture from the USSR. It focuses on rival architectural visions in East and West Berlin: the monumental "Stalinallee" in the Eastern Sector, and the Modernist housing schemes of "Interbau" in the West designed by architects including Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Oskar Niemeyer.

Cold War Modern examines how the competition to be modern entered the domestic sphere, exemplified by the famous 1959 "Kitchen Debate" between Nixon and Khrushchev which took place at the American National Exhibition staged in Moscow, amid displays of the latest American household goods.

During this period, images of destruction haunted the collective imagination. The nuclear threat, and the response to it, are seen through graphics, art, film and imaginary schemes such as Buckminster Fuller’s 1962 geodesic Dome over Manhattan.

A section on the space race and hi-tech triumphs highlights the first space mission by Yuri Gagarin aboard a Vostok space capsule. On display are designs of interiors for NASA space craft by Raymond Loewy, experimental spacesuits as well as many examples of furniture, architecture, art and fashion inspired by the space race. Amongst the many technological achievements of the period, a new and distinctive form of architecture emerged, the telecommunications tower, including the Post Office Tower in London and Moscow’s Ostankino Tower.

Under the theme of "Revolution," the exhibition considers forms of protest and rebellion, including the tumultuous events of 1968 in Paris and Prague, looking at them through posters, film, photography and art.

The final section looks at how Cold War technologies were used by architects and designers to create imagined utopias, a world of inflatable, mobile and expendable habitats by groups such as Superstudio and Archigram. There is a full scale reconstruction of Oasis No. 7, a giant inflatable environment containing a small "beach" with palm tree, designed by Viennese architects Haus-Rucker-Co. It also displays other critical views of the future such as Arata Isozaki’s photomontage Re-Ruined Hiroshima.

The exhibition ends with the first photographs of Earth taken from space, which inspired artists and designers in their utopian imaginings and acted as a catalyst to a new environmental awareness of the fragility of the planet.

Victoria & Albert Museum
Cromwell Road
London
+44 (0)20 7942 2000
Fashion v. Sport
August 5 2008-
January 4, 2009

This exhibition explores the creative connections between the two worlds of fashion and sport. Recent developments have seen an increasing number of collaborations and hybrids, from fashion designers producing collections with sportswear brands to sports personalities heading fashion campaigns or even designing their own collections. Fashion V Sport will reveal the complexities and tensions between the two industries.

Sportswear has become an essential part of the modern wardrobe. Trainers and tracksuits are often more readily worn than suits, and high performance textiles developed for competition are being integrated into high-end fashion. Fashion V Sport examines the way that sports styles are adapted to make fashion statements, both on the street and through high fashion, and how sports and fashion products are consumed, customised and worn.

Dare: Technical Innovation
Function and high performance are of primary concern in the design of sportswear. Companies invest a considerable amount of time and money into researching performance-enhancing garments and footwear.

Recently, fashion designers have integrated many of these technologies into their designs, often in direct collaboration with sports corporations. At the same time, sportswear has become increasingly fashionable and self-aware, often looking back at its own design history.

Display: Individuality and Uniformity
Sportswear or sports-inspired fashion may seem a uniform mode of dress. There is nothing more ubiquitous than a pair of trainers, a hooded jersey top and a pair of tracksuit bottoms. However, individuality is expressed through subtle differences and modifications. This section explores how homemade street adaptations - such as how laces are tied and adorned, or how tracksuits are worn - have inspired designers to reinterpret trainers and the tracksuit. It also looks at how the practice of customising has motivated the production of industrially customised goods sold by major sports companies.

Play: Exaggeration and Vibrancy
Sportswear first crossed over into casual wear because it was comfortable and affordable. Since then it has increasingly acquired its own sartorial language, one that is based on patterns and colours of performance sportswear but is often playful and highly exaggerated.

In manipulating the idea of sportswear, designers have pushed the boundaries of what trainers and sports clothes can look like. Witty, ironic and sophisticated, their work reflects the equally inventive customisation of sportswear that can be seen on the street.

Desire: Obsessive Behaviour
The area where fashion and sportswear coexist most comfortably is in the advertising and consumption of menswear and sport-related products. From case studies of a designer's obsession with football, via one-off, limited edition or cult design pieces, to expensive trainer and tracksuit collections, this section pinpoints the place in which sportswear's function has become almost redundant and instead its fashionability has become the key feature.

Variations on Sport, Vogue Italia, April 2005, Steve Hiett, © Steve Hiett/D&V/trunkarchive.com.

Kish with his trainer collection, © Patricia Niven.

Hoody by DR ROMANELLI / NIKE FLUORESCENT collection, Picture by Max Wanger.

Victoria & Albert Museum
Cromwell Road
London
+44 (0)20 7942 2000
The Story of The Supremes from the Mary Wilson Collection
May 13-
October 19, 2008

The performance costumes of The Supremes, one of the most successful groups of all time, will be on display at the V&A this summer. On show will be over 50 outfits that chart the changing image of the group from their dresses in the early days when they were known as The Primettes to the glamorous Hollywood designs they wore at the height of their fame. Set against the backdrop of the meteoric rise of Motown Records, and the turbulence of the American civil rights movement, the display will explore the inspirational role The Supremes played in changing racial perceptions and their influence on today’s performers.

The Supremes recorded 12 U.S. No.1 hits between 1964 and 1969, including an unprecedented five consecutive chart toppers. The display will include costumes worn by the original Supremes — Mary Wilson, Diana Ross and Florence Ballard, as well as the 1970s Supremes. It will examine how the group was carefully styled by Berry Gordy and his Motown associates to appeal to the widest possible audience. Based on the collection of Mary Wilson, the display will feature the group’s music, album covers and archive footage of them performing as well as new video interviews with Wilson and Maxine Powell, Motown’s in-house Artist Development Director.

On show will be one of the first gowns purchased by the group when they were still called The Primettes. There will be several costumes designed by Hollywood designer Bob Mackie (known as the “Sultan of Sequins”) and costumes designed for appearances on television including •The Ed Sullivan Show• (on which the group performed 17 times). The gold, bronze and yellow “Butterfly” gowns worn on the cover of the 1969 album •Cream of the Crop• will be displayed as well as the beaded dresses The Supremes wore to meet the Queen Mother in 1968. The black velvet gowns encrusted with rhinestones, pearls and gold brocade designed by Mackie and worn for Diana Ross’s 1970 farewell performance with the group will also be on show.

In addition original photographs, footage of television appearances and magazine spreads will examine The Supremes as black role models in the 1960s. Appearing on radio and television screens across the world, the group broke down racial barriers and enjoyed unprecedented success.

As the 50th anniversary of Motown Records approaches in 2009, the display also looks at the company’s history. After lowly beginnings in Detroit, a city more famous for car production than music, Motown became the largest independent record label in America and the most financially successful black owned business in the country. The Supremes epitomised the vibrant, sophisticated crossover appeal of the label. On display will be a reconstruction of the mixing desk from the famous “Recording Studio A” at Motown headquarters – ‘Hitsville USA’.

The final section looks at the group’s influence today. A set of costumes worn by Destiny’s Child will be exhibited and there will be a specially commissioned video interview with radio and television broadcaster Trevor Nelson who will discuss The Supremes and today’s generation of girl bands.

Mary Wilson said: “I have kept these dresses in storage for over 30 years, it was my dream that that one day I could share them with the world. I am delighted that they are going on display at the V&A and on tour around the UK.”

The display is part of the V&A’s programme for its Theatre and Performance Collections. It has been adapted and curated by Geoffrey Marsh (Head of V&A Theatre and Performance Collections) and Victoria Broackes (Head of Exhibitions). Carol Tulloch, research fellow at the V&A and co-curator of the Museum’s 2004 Black British Style exhibition, has also contributed.

The Supremes, Courtesy of Motown Records Archives.

The Supremes in front of the Brewster Projects, 1967, ©Wayne State University.

The Supremes wearing Peach Feathers designed by Bob Mackie in 1969, From the Collection of Eric Charge.

Victoria & Albert Museum
Cromwell Road
London
+44 (0)20 7942 2000
Collaborators: UK Design
for Performance 2003-2007
November 21, 2007-
November 18, 2008

As well as showing how designers communicate their ideas to audiences, the theme will celebrate their partnerships with directors, writers, composers, choreographers and performers. Others collaborators include visual artists such as lighting and projection designers, digital artists, industrial designers and architects, as well as the talented crafts people who realise these designs for performance.

Designs include inventive fringe performances to grand international ballet and opera, and West End musicals to small-scale touring productions, an exhibition by the Association of Lighting Designers, and work from individual lighting designers. A presentation by UK Sound Designers features an installation involving 20 UK courses by the Association of Courses in Theatre Design.

The RSC's The Complete Works Festival, Forkbeard Fantasy, cutting-edge company Quarantine, and two Ring Cycles from English National Opera and the Royal Opera House are included. There are also performance space designs for Northern Stage Company, Wexford Opera House and Siobhan Davies Dance Studios.

The quadrennial exhibition includes a selection of designs on display in Nottingham represent the UK at the International Quadrennial in Prague in June 2007. The previous exhibition, 2D>3D, won three Gold Awards for UK designers, confirming the UK's reputation for performance and design.

The Gambler, Opera Zuid at Theater aan het Vrijthof, Maastricht / 2005, Set design: Dick Bird.