80,000 David Bowie items including fabulous costumes are gifted to the nation
More than 80,000 items spanning David Bowie 's 60-year career have been gifted to the nation.
The David Bowie Centre for the Study of Performing Arts will open in 2025 after the Victoria and Albert Museum brokered a deal for his personal archive.
The collection features handwritten lyrics, letters, sheet music, costumes, fashion, photography, film, music videos, set designs, album artwork and awards. It will also include the music icon's instruments, writings and unseen projects.
Highlights include costumes such as Bowie's breakthrough Ziggy Stardust ensembles, designed by Freddie Burretti in 1972, Kansai Yamamoto's creations for the Aladdin Sane tour in 1973, and the Union Jack coat designed by Bowie and Alexander McQueen for the 1997 Earthling album cover.
An extensive archive of David Bowie's life and career will go on display in 2025 (Getty Images)
It will feature memorabilia from his decades-long career (The David Bowie Archive/PA Wire)The archive, which will be at the V&A East Storehouse, in Stratford, East London, includes more than 70,000 photos, prints, negatives, slides and contact sheets taken by leading photographers such as Terry O'Neill and Brian Duffy.
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Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers, who worked with Bowie, said: "When I look at the last 60 years of post-Beatles music that if only one artist could be in the V&A it should be David Bowie. He didn't just make art, he was art!"
The V&A's acquistion of the collection and the creation of the centre was made possible thanks to the David Bowie Estate and £10million in donations from the Blavatnik Family Foundation and Warner Music Group.
The David Bowie Centre for the Study of Performing Arts will be at V&A East Storehouse (Corbis via Getty Images)V&A director Tristram Hunt said: "David Bowie was one of the greatest musicians and performers of all time. The V&A is thrilled to become custodians of his incredible archive, and to open it up for the public.
"Bowie's radical innovations across music, theatre, film, fashion, and style - from Berlin to Tokyo to London - continue to influence design and visual culture and inspire creatives from Janelle Monae to Lady Gaga to Tilda Swinton and Raf Simons."
A spokesman from the David Bowie Estate, added: "With David's life's work becoming part of the UK's national collections, he takes his rightful place amongst many other cultural icons and artistic geniuses.
"The David Bowie Centre for the Study of Performance - and the behind the scenes access that V&A East Storehouse offers - will mean David's work can be shared with the public in ways that haven't been possible before."
It will include more than 80,000 items that span six decades of his career (Sukita and The David Bowie Archive/PA Wire)
The collection includes letters, original costumes, music videos, set designs and awards (Corbis via Getty Images)Bowie died aged 69, at home in New York City in January 2016 following an 18-month liver cancer battle. He was survived by his supermodel wife Iman, their child Alexandria 'Lexi' Zahra, and his son Duncan, from his first marriage to Angie Bowie.
He released 25 albums and made his first foray into the music charts in 1969 with Space Oddity.
Album Hunky Dory, in 1971, featured the classic Changes and Life on Mars before 1972’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars helped propel him to superstardom.
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