Freddie Mercury’s ‘splendid things’ to go on display at V&A

Eight famous costumes worn by Freddie Mercury, including the outfit featured on the cover of Queen’s debut album and the catsuit from the video for Bohemian Rhapsody, are to go on display at the V&A in London this autumn to mark what would have been the singer’s 80th birthday.Freddie Mercury | Splendid Things, a free trail developed with Mercury’s former fiancee and close friend Mary Austin, will run from 24 October 2026 to 17 January 2027. Austin is lending seven of the looks, which span Mercury’s career from the 1970s to his final years.Among them is a monochrome ensemble worn for an early Queen gig at Imperial College and pictured on the cover of the band’s eponymous debut album. Also on display will be the “Mercury Wing” catsuit, designed by Wendy de Smet and worn during the A Night at the Opera tour in 1975-76, as well as in the groundbreaking Bohemian Rhapsody video.Mercury’s crown and cloak, designed by Diana Moseley and worn during Queen’s 1986 Magic Tour, will also feature. He wore the outfit for the band’s final live performance at Knebworth that year. The display will also include a costume from the Made in Heaven music video, as well as accessories and items from his personal wardrobe.Freddie Mercury in the crown and cloak designed by Diana Moseley that he wore in 1986. Photograph: Denis O’ReganThe trail takes its name from a remark Mercury made in 1978: “I like to be surrounded by splendid things. I want to lead a Victorian life surrounded by exquisite clutter.”Austin first met Mercury when she was 19 and he was 24, while they were both working around Kensington’s Biba fashion scene. Mercury, born as Farrokh Bulsara on 5 September 1946 in Zanzibar, was selling his artwork and vintage clothes from a stall in Kensington Market. They became engaged on Christmas Day 1973, the year Queen released their debut album.Their relationship ended in the mid-1970s, but they remained close for the rest of Mercury’s life. When he died in 1991, he left Austin his Kensington home, Garden Lodge, and his possessions.Austin has described Mercury’s clothes as central to the image he created as a performer. “The clothes were part of that exploration,” she said in A Life in Lyrics, due to be published in September. “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.”Freddie Mercury in the Made in Heaven music video. Photograph: Simon FowlerAustin said the clothes and costumes to be displayed at the V&A “tell a hugely important part” of Mercury’s 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.”The installations have been designed by Tom Piper, whose work includes productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Tower of London poppies and the V&A’s Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser and Taylor Swift | Songbook Trail.Each of the trail’s six stops will be staged differently, using sets, sound and lighting to evoke moments from Mercury’s career.Kate Bailey, the V&A’s senior curator of theatre and performance, said the display would explore Mercury’s “love of ‘splendid things’” and his interest in art, design and fashion.