The Divas Who Changed the World Enter the Museum | culture

Not the same influencers What a goddess. The possibility of creating their own universe that can also change the world around them is not within everyone’s reach. It’s not easy being Josephine Baker, Greta Garbo, Maria Callas, Marilyn Monroe, Cher, Tina Turner, Barbra Streisand, Liza Minnelli, Lady Gaga, Amy Winehouse, Elton John, Madonna, Freddie Mercury, Blondie, Prince or Beyoncé.

Victoria and Albert Museum in London The exhibition presents, from next Saturday until April 7, 2024, the exhibition Diva. A successful double attempt: on the one hand, exploration …

Not the same influencers What a goddess. The possibility of creating their own universe that can also change the world around them is not within everyone’s reach. It’s not easy being Josephine Baker, Greta Garbo, Maria Callas, Marilyn Monroe, Cher, Tina Turner, Barbra Streisand, Liza Minnelli, Lady Gaga, Amy Winehouse, Elton John, Madonna, Freddie Mercury, Blondie, Prince or Beyoncé.

Victoria and Albert Museum in London The exhibition presents, from next Saturday until April 7, 2024, the exhibition Diva. A successful double attempt: on the other hand, exploring individuals who have reached the top through creativity and artistic approach capable of breaking the traditions of their time. On the other hand, the characters who turned a generation’s ideas upside down, and influenced debates about race, gender, or social injustice. Look at Beyoncé and her song an exercise. says curator, Kate Bailey, while speaking to EL PAÍS on the screen behind us. “It’s a statement of defense for the Black Lives Matter movement, and a show of activism in favor of equality. The way she uses her voice in defense of feminism is as powerful as that of a diva in another era. Or Rihanna, in that open way she publicizes her Caribbean heritage, helping to create new platforms.” and Lady Gaga, who speaks to her audience in a way that promotes a campaign in favor of gay liberation and the LGTBQ community,” says Bailey.

It all started with the unconditional adoration of those gorgeous voices of 19th century opera, the first to earn the “Goddess” qualification. Jenny Lind or Adelina Patti. Women are able to gain independence and a social level far removed from the rest of those times. They were soon followed by the ladies of the Victorian stage scene, whose overwhelming acting skills, in a world dominated by men, gave them enough power for some to use in social causes: Eileen Terry, the drama queen of the time, gave such power to the characters of Shakespeare he played that he had a legion of followers, and gained enough influence and power to launch the Actresses Suffrage League.

Cabaret’s Goddess music hall, as Josephine Baker, spy and heroine of the French Resistance, symbol of the struggle against racism; Or the first silent cinema. Hollywood goddesses, like Garbo, Marilyn or Judy Garland. A first run through the exhibition works to understand the concept of the diva, all the way to the end of this initiation phase: DivineMaria Callas. The dress she wore in 1952 for her glorious interpretation of the a base Bellini and the song Cast Diva For the Covent Garden Opera Company, it is a preview of the show set in the second room of the gallery.

The singer’s wardrobe

Only a burning goddess can always wear something like a flaming dress (Flame dress), the perfect synthesis of brilliance, luminosity, and brevity for Tina Turner’s Campfire. Designed by Bob Mackie, one of America’s most famous designers and actresses, its originality meant that other divas, like Beyoncé or RuPaul, couldn’t resist copying it. “Tina, Tina… wild, hilarious, with tremendous talent and a tremendous rapport with the audience. His show was magical,” recalls EL PAÍS Mackie, who traveled to London to open the exhibition.

Her dresses for Cher, with that incomparable touch of extravagance exported from Las Vegas to the rest of the world, occupy the center of a room stretching in all directions presenting the music, images, and costumes of other deities enthroned in recent decades. Celebrating women is no longer enough, but rather a femininity that transcends gender. Elton John and the Louis XIV-inspired dress, including the wig, designed by Sandy Powell for the singer on his fiftieth birthday; Prince’s shoes and his universal androgynous symbol in the form of a cloud, with which he moved an exceptional musician who broke the borders and boundaries of sexuality; Or the extreme justification of the female universe they incorporated Dragon Queen Like RuPaul.

“Because there is no ‘divo’ in the same sense. The divo has to embrace the divo, and she has to take into account the other genres,” Bailey explains. “The themes and motifs that divas adopt appear in historical shows such as those of Freddie Mercury, or Elton John dressed as Louis XIV. It is a show in which identity is expressed through costumes and extravagance.”

Amy Winehouse’s short dress, but also the little black one that featured Edith Piaf; Gorgeous Balenciaga creations for Rihanna or the Casa Valentino dress that Lady Gaga dazzled in at the 2019 Golden Globes. Or the aesthetic punk From Debbie Harry blond Created by designer Stephen Sprouse for their 1979 European tour. A kind of pajamas made of stretchy synthetic fabric and impossibly orange and yellow. “Fashion should always be a little risky,” says the singer, who knew how to define a new way to be stylish.

Divas without glamor, but with an overwhelming personality, like Joan Baez. Goddess capable of causing a social earthquake in the streets, like Nina Simone. Women who own their work and creativity who have endured decades on the front lines, freelancers in a male-dominated industry, like Barbra Streisand, Liza Minnelli – Diva’s Daughter – or Dolly Parton. Victoria and Albert Museum Concentrate in a one-off exhibition the overwhelming impact of exceptional women who have used art to improve the world that has affected them.

– “Rosalia is missing,” the journalist could not avoid commenting.

“I knew that,” the curator laughs. “I hate you, I hate you. I knew the question was going to come up. In these shows, which take so long to work on, there comes a time when you have to draw a line. But I’m convinced they really do have a place in the world of divas,” says Bailey.