V&A to spotlight Vivienne Westwood jewellery and punk fashion in 2027

V&A museums in the UK have announced its exhibition programme for 2027, across V&A South Kensington, V&A East Museum, and V&A Dundee, including an immersive celebration of punk music, art and fashion, an exploration of 400 years of South Indian fabric Chintz, a deep dive into Vivienne Westwood’s jewellery designs, and a look at the global influence emerging from South Asia, including fashion and design.

The V&A kicks off 2027 with its ‘Punk to Pop’ exhibition, opening on March 13, 2027, at V&A South Kensington. The immersive exhibition will re-examine the rich and eclectic creative explosion across music, art and fashion from 1972–1985, exploring the underground scenes and movements united by a punk DIY attitude. It will feature around 300 objects, from stage costumes to photography, music videos and designs, including bands such as the Sex Pistols, Joy Division and Wham!

V&A Dundee’s major exhibition will be dedicated to the late British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood and how jewellery played an integral role in defining the Westwood look. The ‘Vivienne Westwood & Jewellery’ exhibition will offer an immersive look at Westwood’s history of jewellery design, exploring the design language and subversive spirit of the British design house through the prism of jewellery.

The exhibition, opening on March 26, will also celebrate the fashion house’s symbiotic relationship with Scotland, including highlighting the designer’s love of Scottish textiles and culture through a selection of archive looks.

V&A announces 2027 exhibition programme

At the V&A East Museum, the spotlight will be on South Asia, exploring the creativity, innovation and global influence emerging from the region today. ‘South Asia Now: Fashion. Art. Design.’ will open on April 24 and will showcase the “extraordinary breadth of creativity” rooted in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The exhibit will feature more than 200 works across art, fashion, architecture and design, spotlighting designers, architects, makers and artists, “who are drawing on shared histories, cultural exchange and generational knowledge to respond to the defining challenges of our time”.

V&A to celebrate Chintz

Wrapping up a busy year of exhibitions will be a major exhibit dedicated to the story of South Indian chintz, a fabric created by hand-drawing designs on cotton. Described as a “groundbreaking” showcase, ‘Chintz’ will explore the story of how the fabric has endured for more than 400 years. Over the 1600s and 1700s, global desire for South Indian chintz saw the fabric consumed on every continent and at every level of society, making it one of the most coveted, copied and contentious fabrics in history, and its appeal still endures today.

The exhibition, opening on September 18, will look back at the colourful, hand-drawn fabric through “a radical new lens; not as a consumer product, but as a form of art, alike to other forms of painting and drawing”. Highlights include the world-class chintz collection of the V&A alongside “the exceptional private chintz collection” of Karun Thakar, a textile collector and researcher.