The Story of the Supremes from the Mary Wilson Collection

Small exhibition in the costume galleries at the V&A of the stage costumes of the Supremes.

It was very good at putting the works in context looking at the history of Black music and segregation. In particular it discusses the role of Motown. I hadn’t realized that Berry Gordy, their producer, also released the sound recordings of Martin Luther King’s speeches.

However the stars of the show were the clothes. I liked it best when they had all three costumes even though they were the same. There were acres of sequins and beads and I’m sure many of the dresses must have been really heavy. Wackiest were beaded trousers where the beads were set to look like herring bone.

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