Source: Daily Mail
She is one of the top female singers in British music history, selling over 80 million records and boasting eight Brit Awards.
Now the success of pop legend and trend-setter Annie Lennox, 56 will be celebrated in a six-month long exhibition opening at the Victoria & Albert museum this week.
Called the House of Annie Lennox this is the first time wares from her androgynous wardrobe, intimate photographs, personal treasures and vintage film footage will be displayed, providing insight into an illustrious career spanning over four decades.
Revealing: An image of Annie Lennox taken by fashion photographer Satoshi Saikusa, 1991, included in the six-month long exhibition called the House of Annie Lennox opening at the V&A this week
Finding success in the late 1970s with pop band The Tourists and then with Dave Stewart as the Eurythmics, Lennox is also known for her humanitarian pursuits and this year was awarded an OBE for her work with Oxfam.
With her distinctive platinum blonde cropped hair, milky complexion, and boyish looks she is said to have inspired a plethora of today’s female stars, from Lady Gage to Florence Welch.
She said: ‘I just hope that people coming to see this exhibition will enjoy it and have an opportunity to spend an hour or so going through the museum and when they come by this corner getting a sense of what I’ve offered to the world.’
Eerie: The red cloak, staff and top hat worn in the ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’ video
Trend setter: A black sequined evening dress and tailcoat, worn in the 1992 ‘Little Bird’ music video (left) and a black leather jacket and trousers worn by Lennox for the Revenge tour in 1986 (right)
Included in the display is a Union Jack suit worn at the Brit Awards in 1999, where Lennox collected a prize for Outstanding Contribution to Music with the Eurythmics, a black sequined evening dress and tailcoat, worn in the 1992 ‘Little Bird’ music video, and an eerie red cloak, staff and top hat worn in the ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’ video.
Victoria Broakes, curator of the exhibition at the V&A, told The Scotsman: ‘Annie is the perfect subject for the exhibition as she is someone who connects so perfectly not only with music, but fashion and popular culture.
‘It’s a very exciting exhibition as it’s not a retrospective of her career. It’s part installation, and part display of objects related to Annie.’
In the beginning: A gold lame corset with pink detailing worn with ‘The Tourists’
Lennox is an only child, born in Aberdeen on Christmas Day, 1954. In 1971, at the age of 17, she moved to London after securing a place at the Royal Academy of Music where she studied the flute and classical music.
To coincide with the exhibition lectures and workshops will be held. Lennox will also be discussing her work with art critic Tim Marlow on October 7 at the museum but tickets are now sold out.
The exhibition will run until 26 February, before going to the Lowry in Manchester until June, and many are hoping that it will then move to Lennox’s hometown of Aberdeen.
Lennox added: ‘I hope that people come away feeling ‘Oh that was lovely’.’
Icon: Annie Lennox is said to have inspired stars including Lady Gage and Florence Welch
The House of Annie Lennox: 15 September 2011–26 February 2012, V&A, Room 104, Admission free, www.vam.ac.uk