The launch of this trail coincides with the closure of the Fashion gallery ahead of a major transformation project due for completion in spring 2027. Further fashion objects, both earlier and contemporary, can be found in galleries including Britain, China, Design 1900 – Now, Europe, Japan and Theatre & Performance, as well as at other V&A sites and online.
This trail is estimated to take around 35 minutes. Click on the map links to find the objects on our digital map.
Stop 1: Necklace and earrings designed by Santhi Wongchan and made by Niphon Yodkranpan, 2003
With its thick collar, 14 hanging flowers – two of which drop almost half a metre down – and matching earrings, this 23-karat gold necklace makes a statement. The striking set, made in the early 2000s, combines modern design with traditional technique and local imagery. Leaders of their field Santhi Wongchan and Niphon Yodkranpan, who both have connections with the Royal College of Goldsmiths in Bangkok, called on the ancient Thai technique of ‘woven gold’ (the weaving together of gold wire links) which has been revived since the 1970s. Wongchan, the designer, was also inspired by Thailand’s trumpet-like dok peep flower.
Discover some of the highlights from our jewellery collection in this video.
Stop 2: Starry Sky Overdrive kimono by Modern Antenna in collaboration with Yoshida Shōnen, 2018
The kimono is Japan’s traditional form of dress and yet I couldn’t find a single one that appealed to me. The venture started from my rebellious streak as a designer.
"My father is a dyer of kimono fabric. I witnessed the reality of the industry’s aversion to change through him and felt frustration", reflected Hirayama Yoshihide of the Kyoto-based kimono brand Modern Antenna. Since 2007, husband and wife team Hirayama and Yamamoto Asako have been designing boldly contemporary kimono geared towards modern audiences. They embrace digital design and printing, budget-friendly polyester and varied sources of inspiration. For this 2018 kimono, a collaboration with the musician Yoshida Shōnen, the textile design is both graphic and illustrative, while the obi (waist sash) references Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother (1970) album cover which features a cow. Small stars in gold leaf add a glimmering finishing touch.
Explore our incredible collection of kimono.
Stop 3: Handbag by Haruta Yukihiko, 2008
This creatively imagined handbag resembling a coiled python is a tour de force of cloisonné and metalwork. It was designed and made in the 2000s by Haruta Yukihiko, a graduate of the Enamelling School at the Tokyo University of the Arts, who has produced a number of impressive snake pieces. The meticulous processes used in the making of this handbag included hammering out each copper panel, working the patinated copper alloy used for the trim, handles and strap, cutting individual silver zip teeth and cloisonné enamelling, an intricate technique involving wires and glass which is explained further in the gallery. This complexly constructed bag took Haruta around three months to make.
Find out more about objects in our Japan collection.
Stop 4: Suit by Li Wei, 2014
This ensemble was part of the collection Li Wei presented at Mercedes-Benz China Fashion Week spring/summer 2015. Li reinterpreted the ‘Zhongshan suit’, named after revolutionary leader Sun Zhongshan and later known in Britain as the ‘Mao suit’ in reference to Mao Zedong. Traditionally associated with political figures, Li softened the suit's rigid form by using lightweight, ombré-dyed silk, symbolising transformation. She was among the first generation of fashion designers trained in China, studying at the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts (now part of Tsinghua University), the first art college in China to offer a fashion design programme from 1980. Alongside her successful design career, Li later became a Professor of Fashion Design at Tsinghua University.
Explore our China collection.
Stop 5: Naija football shirt designed by Matthew Wolff for Nike, 2018
Generating millions of pre-orders, massive queues and headlines like ‘How Nigeria's World Cup Jersey Became a Streetwear Grail’, the Nigeria home football shirt for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, made from recycled polyester, was a huge success. Matthew Wolff from US brand Nike led on the shirt's bright, chevron-like design, which evoked feathers. It was inspired by an earlier Nigeria kit referencing eagles (the team is known as the Super Eagles) and bold Naija style. The kit’s popularity spoke to Nigeria’s cultural kudos, powerfully harnessed by the music as well as sport focused marketing campaign organised by Nike and the London and Lagos based firm Metallic Inc. It also reflected the global appeal of sportswear both in its own right and as fashion.
Check out more of our Design 1900 – Now collection.
Stop 6: Fifi shoes by Christian Louboutin, designed in 2013 and made in 2014
Christian Louboutin’s Nudes Collection, a range of shoes launched in 2013, was game changing – the first example of a major fashion house expanding its definition of the colour often referred to as ‘nude’ beyond a light beige hue. The shoes were available in four styles, including these Fifi stilettos, and five shades, all set off by the French house’s classic red sole. An iPhone app enabled prospective customers to check which tone would be the best match for them – the typical aim of nude shoes, as expressed by Louboutin, being 'a fluid extension of [the] legs'. The company grew the welcomed range, which they refer to as ‘an ode to inclusivity and a core part of the Maison’s values’, to a total of eight shades.
This way for more shoes!
Stop 7: "SCULPTURE" bag designed by Virgil Abloh for IKEA, 2019
This collaboration has been the most rigorous of any design project I’ve done… There are only a few moments in a design career that you get to work with the absolute best in class, and my concept of design resonates with IKEA’s democratic design principles, with the idea that great design can be accessible for the many people.
In 2019, the US fashion designer Virgil Abloh collaborated with IKEA to rework the multinational homeware brand’s staple blue plastic shopping bag, giving it a paper bag look and applying his signature provocative quotation marks. "It’s me using irony in a specific way", Abloh commented, "It lets a viewer reanalyse or question the fact". By labelling the bag “SCULPTURE”, he raised questions about how we define art, fashion and product design. Available in two sizes and part of a wider partnership between IKEA and the top designer, who had recently been appointed menswear artistic director at Louis Vuitton, the bag was a major marketing coup for the homeware company and a means of democratising fashion. The Sculpture bag was the cheapest product in the collection: this 33 litre version retailed for 10 Euros, while the 79 litre version sold for 13 Euros.
Explore more of the bags in our collection.
Stop 8: Suit by Sandy Powell, 2020
I started the signing on the red carpet. It was quite fun. At the BAFTAs I bumped into Richard E Grant on the carpet and he kneeled down and signed my trousers. And then once we’d taken our seats, you have a few minutes before it starts and you can sort of sit there and sort of plot your targets in advance. And then every time there was a break I’d run up to somebody and I’d say “can you sign this?”, and at the same time really quickly explain what it was for.
This suit features signatures from creatives including Bong Joon Ho, Joaquin Phoenix and Saoirse Ronan, collected by its designer and wearer Sandy Powell at the 2020 BAFTAs (British Academy Film Awards) and Oscars. The British costume designer was on a mission to help preserve Prospect Cottage on the Kent coast as it had been left by her friend and collaborator the late Derek Jarman, known for his work across areas including film, gardening and gay rights. The signed suit, a toile for an earlier ensemble, sold for £20,000 at auction before it was donated to the V&A. The sale price contributed to the Art Fund’s successful campaign to preserve the cottage as the artistic hub it has been since Jarman moved there in 1986.
Explore more from our Theatre & Performance collection.
Stop 9: Future Nostalgia catsuit and gloves designed by Casey Cadwallader for Mugler, 2022, worn with Jimmy Choo boots
Casey Cadwallader, creative director at the French fashion house Mugler between 2017 and 2025, designed this catsuit and gloves ensemble for the singer-songwriter and global superstar Dua Lipa. She wore the costume during her 2022 Future Nostalgia tour, a delayed celebration of her 2020 album of the same name released during the COVID-19 pandemic. The outfit reflects both the US designer’s style and Lipa’s music: his high-impact bodysuits termed ‘the New Pop Star Uniform’ by W Magazine in 2021, and her 1970s to 90s disco and club vibe. It features over 100,000 crystals and took over 1,000 hours to make. Lipa wore the costume with these high-heeled Jimmy Choo boots.
Learn more about the crystal-encrusted catsuit in this film.
Explore more of our Costume collection.
Stop 10: Bracelet by Peter Chang, 2001
Please be aware that although V&A South Kensington is open late until 22.00 on Fridays, the Jewellery gallery closes at 17.45.
The British designer-maker Peter Chang trained in art, graphic design, printmaking and sculpture. He worked across sculptural, interior and furniture projects before turning his hand to jewellery from the late 1970s. Such influences are clear in his highly unusual award-winning jewellery made from materials including found objects and reused acrylic. The outer surface of this vibrant sculptural bracelet, made in 2001, is decorated with heavily stylised flowers and ten protruding multicoloured spikes finished with silver spheres. In Chang’s words, "I like to incorporate a bit of fun: spice it up. People take things too seriously".
Discover more of our Jewellery collection.
