-This exhibition is now closed-

What to say about Club to Catwalk, the Victoria and Albert’s latest fashion exhibition? Dedicated to the club styles of the 1980s and their influence on mainstream fashion trends, the exhibition is wall-to-wall androgynous pirates, body-contoured sportswomen, leather-bound goths, and super-glam rock goddesses. In short, nothing too shocking to anyone who has seen a Lady Gaga video recently.

But then, it is surely the point of the show that the themes of this decade of extravagant fashion one-upmanship still resonate with trendsetters thirty years later. Just like the V&A’s recent blockbuster David Bowie exhibition, Club to Catwalk gives us part of the origin story for today’s inextricable links between music, performance, urban nightlife and fashion, and in particular explains how this relationship crystallized in London and became part of the city’s identity as a mecca for off-the-wall style.

The exhibition is open until 16 February.