A new V&A exhibition sweeps aside connotations of misogyny and scorn. Let’s hope the diva’s joyful silliness survives
Who do you think of when you hear the word diva? A trailblazing punk singer? A civil rights activist and second world war spy? A man?
Well, maybe – especially if that man is Elton John: notorious tantrummer, expert celebrity feuder and wearer of fabulously ludicrous costumes, one of which – an enormous, luxuriously befeathered Louis XIV-inspired look designed for his 50th birthday party – is among the centrepieces of the V&A’s upcoming exhibition, Diva. Celebrating “the power and creativity of iconic performers”, it aims to recast the diva as a force for social change by focusing on those who have embraced, and subverted, diva-dom and “challenged the status quo” in the process, including rockstars Debbie Harry and Siouxsie Sioux, and war hero and showgirl Josephine Baker.
