Rihanna, Beyoncé and Elton John play diva tunes in London

Published March 6, 2024 at 8:37 pm. / Modified on March 7, 2024 at 06:17.

A dress made of filaments covered with red and orange sequins, embellished with large gold-colored feathers. The “Flame” dress worn by Tina Turner in 1977 is in 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 found a Louis XIV-inspired dress, made of ostrich feathers and a whirling wig decorated with silver galloons, which Elton John wore for his 50th birthday in 1997. Or the sky blue dress resembling a cosmic cloud with a huge train, displayed by Lady Gaga during the Golden Globes ceremony in 2019.

The visitor walks among these artworks that reflect the plethora of personalities who wore them, with on-ear headphones broadcasting a soundtrack covering the nearly two hundred years during which the concept of the diva dominated the world of show business. Coming from the Latin for “goddess”, the term was first used by Théophile Gautier in 1831. “It was then used to describe the almost superhuman talent of 19th-century opera singers,” explains Kate Bailey, curator of the exhibition.