Victoria and Albert Museum

OPEN NOW - Lost Music Venues at V&A South Kensington.

This free display celebrates four decades of spaces that nurtured talent, built community and shaped British music.

From Pulp’s tour manager briefcase to handwritten Oasis lyrics, a Blur set list that secured a publishing deal to a bespoke club outfit designed by Vivienne Westwood - over 100 objects bring together the stories of around 50 venues that made British music what it is today.

The display also explores the golden age of UK club culture, from the Hacienda to Plastic People, as well as the challenges facing the sector and the future of grassroots music venues.

Lost Music Venues runs until 22 May 2027 in Theatre & Performance, Room 104 at V&A South Kensington.

Free entry to all.

Photography: David Parry for the V&A

A Peony in Rubies 🌺

Designed by Cindy Chao, this extraordinary peony brooch brings together 3,150 rubies, eleven years of craftsmanship, and one remarkable feat of engineering and artistry.

Layered petals were first sculpted in wax, then cast in titanium to create an intricate lattice of individual gem settings, balancing opulence with remarkable delicacy. Commissioned by Taiwanese philanthropist Yu Hsiang, the brooch reimagines rubies from a treasured family necklace into a peony: an imperial flower symbolising beauty, resilience and good fortune in Chinese tradition.

Visit V&A South Kensington, Jewellery, Rooms 91, The William and Judith Bollinger Gallery, to see the Peony brooch on display.

Image description: Peony-shaped brooch with seven-layered petals set with oval rubies.

The summer six million people came to Hyde Park.

175 years ago this year, in the summer of 1851, a radical structure of glass and iron rose in Hyde Park. Designed by Joseph Paxton and assembled by 2,000 workers in just seven months, it became the largest man-made covered space on earth at the time - and was affectionately nicknamed the Crystal Palace.

Inside, over 100,000 objects from 34 nations celebrated art, science and industry, drawing more than 6 million visitors from around the world in a single summer.

Although it was dismantled, its legacy didn’t disappear. The proceeds helped transform South Kensington into the cultural quarter you know today - and 244 of the objects on display were purchased to form the founding collection of what is now the V&A.

Learn more about the iconic museums, venues, institutions and parks that make up this area next weekend Great Exhibition Road Festival

🔗 Read the full story behind the Great Exhibition: https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/the-great-exhibition-of-1851

Image description and details:

1. Crystal Palace and gardens at Sydenham, photograph, published by Cundell and Downes, about 1863, London.
2. Aeronautic View of the Palace of Industry for All Nations, from Kensington Gardens, 1851’, print, by Charles Burton, London, England.
3. ‘Interior of the Crystal Palace’, showing Owen Jones’ colour scheme to decorate the construction elements, watercolour, by William Simpson, about 1851, Britain.

Sculpted Fashion💚

Issey Miyake was one of the most innovative designers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, helping redefine fashion in Paris alongside a new wave of Japanese designers in the 1970s and 1980s.

The Plastic Body (early 1980s) is part of his experimental Bodyworks series, which explored the relationship between clothing and the human form. The plastic bustier is moulded from glass fibre and polyester resin, precisely tracing the contours of the female body.

Rather than conceal, Miyake’s design reveals and celebrates the body, transforming clothing into wearable sculpture.

📸 Designed by Issey Miyake, in collaboration with the mannequin manufacturer Nanasai, Japan, Autumn/Winter 1980.

Eid Mubarak to everyone celebrating Eid al-Adha today!

How did people remember important life achievements before photography?

This colourfully painted tile is a souvenir of the holy pilgrimage to Mecca. Known as the Hajj, Muslim believers are required to perform it once in their lifetime.

Commissioned by someone who completed the Hajj around 1650, this tile shows a bird’s-eye view of Mecca. The stonepaste body was hand-painted and calligraphed before the final glazing, preserving its bright colours, such as cobalt and turquoise blue. All the important buildings are labelled in Arabic, and at the centre of the scene, the Ka‘bah is shown as the square black building.

Get an up-close look at this tile on display at V&A South Kensington Room 42, Islamic Middle East.

Tile, made in Turkey, ca.1650. Museum no. 427-1900.

On the 26th of May 1967, The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band first went on sale in the UK, ahead of its officially scheduled release.

Created by pop artist Peter Blake and artist Jann Haworth, the iconic album sleeve brought together a collage of cultural icons, historical figures and celebrities. The elaborate set of life-sized cut-outs was photographed by Michael Cooper, with The Beatles standing at its centre.

Often described as one of the most influential album covers ever made, the artwork blurred the boundaries between music, art and popular culture. Permissions had to be secured for many of the recognisable faces featured on the sleeve.

Nearly six decades later, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band remains a landmark of 1960s pop art and visual storytelling.

Visit V&A South Kensington, Prints & Drawings Study Room, level C, to request to view this print.

Flora’s Train 🪻💐

Designed by Victorian artist Walter Crane, each pale blue Art Nouveau tile depicts a woman whose gown matches the flower she stands with.

Cornflower, bluebell, columbine, anemone, poppy and daffodil make the full set.

📸 Flora’s Train, Glazed Tiles, Walter Crane, 1900-1901.

Yves Saint Laurent in Scene 🌸

Commissioned for Observer Colour magazine, this photograph formed part of a six-page fashion story directed by Jo Adams. The elegance of Yves Saint Laurent evening gowns is mirrored in the grandeur of the setting, creating a dialogue between fashion, movement and place.

Photographed by Jim Lee and printed by Martin Clark, the image draws inspiration from the atmosphere of Old Masters paintings while embracing the visual language of cinema, balancing stillness with narrative to capture fashion as both portrait and performance.

Visit V&A South Kensington, Prints & Drawings Study Room, level F, to request to view this print.

'Observer Colour Magazine 2003', photographed in London by Jim Lee in 2003, printed by Martin Clark at the RCA, London, 2006.