V&A announces Freddie Mercury |Splendid Things

Opening on 24th October, Freddie Mercury | Splendid Things will mark the 80th anniversary year of Freddie’s birth, paying tribute to one of the world’s most beloved performers.

The trail, developed with Mary Austin, Freddie’s former fiancée, close friend and confidante of 20 years, celebrates Mercury’s career through costumes and  accessories worn in some of the most memorable music videos and pop performances of modern times.

Mary is lending seven of the looks to the V&A for the display. Each of the six stops on the trail will showcase an iconic moment in Mercury’s career, 
with looks spotlighting his flamboyance, charisma and the multi-disciplinary creativity  that helped define his enduring legacy. Each intervention will present some of Freddie’s most memorable looks in dialogue with a unique and dramatic setting in the V&A 
galleries and will draw synergies with the V&A objects on display, as well as the architecture of the building.

Mannequins made specially for the trail will be dynamically posed to reflect Freddie’s charismatic stage presence.
The looks span the 1970s and 80s and include a striking monochrome ensemble worn  by Freddie for an early Queen gig at Imperial college and featured on the cover of  Queen’s debut album in 1973, as well as the ‘Mercury Wing’ catsuit designed by Wendy 
de Smet that was worn on stage for Night At the Opera tour, 1975- 1976 and seen in the groundbreaking video for Bohemian Rhapsody and his signature crown and cloak designed by Diana Moseley and worn on the Magic Tour including for Freddie’s last stage appearance with Queen at Knebworth, 1986.

The looks take us right through to 
Mercury’s success as a solo star with the costume worn in the Made in Heaven music video. Accessories and items from Mercury’s personal wardrobe also offer a glimpse of the man behind the Mercury persona. 

Designed by award-winning designer Tom Piper – best known for his stage designs in theatre and opera including numerous productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company, as well as his Tower of London poppies and V&A exhibition Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser and the Taylor Swift Songbook Trail – each installation will be distinct and theatrically staged, bringing to life moments in Freddie’s musical career through set dressing and in some spaces - sound and light. There will be a public programme of related events to coincide with the display. 

Kate Bailey, Senior Curator of Theatre and Performance at the V&A said: ‘We are thrilled to display Freddie’s most iconic costumes at the V&A, celebrating one of greatest performers and songwriters of all time. Reflecting his love of ‘splendid things’ and his 
passion for art, design and fashion, Freddie will be very at home in the V&A galleries.’

Mary Austin explains that Freddie Mercury’s striking costumes were an integral, and carefully considered, part of his stage persona: ‘As the records became more successful and the response grew stronger, his confidence deepened and his performance settled. 
What I saw now was an artist continuously developing while the seed of who he was stayed intact. The clothes were part of that exploration. Freddie understood early on that he 
wasn’t just wearing clothes; he was providing an image to match the scale of the space and the vastness of the crowd. He was there to entertain, and everything about what he wore 
fed into that’ (Mary Austin quoted in “A Life in Lyrics” published by HarperCollins on September 1, 2026).

Mary Austin adds: ‘As we celebrate Freddie’s legacy in what would have been his 80th year, the clothes and costumes to be displayed at the V&A tell a hugely important part of his story both on and off the stage. Never mere accoutrements, his costumes and clothes were essential to his performances, creative vision, and wider self-expression, carefully 
designed to create a lasting visual and emotional impact that has reached across the generations and still reverberates today.’

Main Image: Freddie Mercury in the Made in Heaven video Photo Simon Fowler