The Monocle Minute

There’s something alluring about divas, the iconic female performers whose strong personalities have left a mark across the world’s film industries, opera stages and popular music. They have always played a strong part in my life, so it’s gratifying to see that they are now being celebrated in a new blockbuster exhibition, Diva, at London’s V&A.

Though the word means “goddess” in Latin, diva has been used negatively to describe female celebrities whose edgy personalities have been perceived as “difficult” in the male-dominated entertainment industries. The exhibition challenges this view: here, divas are presented as revolutionaries whose hard-headedness and eccentricities have changed societal norms for the better.

Among Diva’s highlights are its collections of dresses worn by 20th-century opera prima donnas and by modern music icons from Maria Callas and Cher (pictured, on left with Elton John and Diana Ross) to Tina Turner and Madonna. These outfits feature bright colours, jewellery, plumes, wings and other contraptions aimed at enhancing the performers’ extravagance and making them stand out. A series of images – of the scintillating Grace Jones, the great Dolly Parton and others – is also projected onto the museum’s walls, creating a sort of planetarium of remarkable women.

Celebrities and role models don’t always have to be nice. Irreverent, powerful and glamorous, divas represent the rejection of dullness, an alternative to a world full of boring conformists. They’re an essential part of the entertainment industry but also of society as a whole. As Mae West put it in her 1933 film I’m No Angel, “When I’m good, I’m very good. But when I’m bad, I’m better.”

Fernando Augusto Pacheco is Monocle Radio’s senior correspondent. Tune in to the ‘Monocle on Culture’ special on ‘Diva’ at the V&A on Monocle Radio. And for more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.

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