With a spare hour or so out on the Eastern fringes of the Olympic Park to spare, I had a second shifty through the Bowie Archives at the V&A Storehouse. I was a little underwhelmed when the Archives first opened last year. I was in search of Bowie, but instead found a very sterile, soulless experience - something that could rarely be said about Bowie himself.
With the hype for the Storehouse having died down, pre-booking tickets are no longer required. Tuesday lunchtime was pretty quiet at the Storehouse. It led to a more relaxed atmosphere, and not the desire or need to read EVERY Bowie artefact on show, clambering to make sure that I hadn’t missed something.
It remains a revolving display of items on show. The bulk of the Archive is still behind closed doors, waiting to come out once the current run of themes and rarities have run their course. There’s no linear or chronological curation. The Archive is all the better for this.
I really enjoyed my return visit, floating between the various cabinets, and taking a pick ‘n’ mix approach to the detail I wanted to zoom in on. One of my favourite items remains the letter penned by Bowie’s old man back in the mid 60’s, giving him a character reference and asking a music mogul to give him a break.
The costumes on show remain the obvious big hitters. I was struck once again at the petite waistline throughout his career - all the way from Ziggy through to the Earthling late 90’s Union Flag branded jacket. I took a few moments to lose myself in the big screen action. Fashion hit the spot for me on Tuesday.
