DIVA pays tribute to “the spectacle and the sparkle, the feathers and the flamboyant”, says Bailey, with costumes taking centre stage. Headlining is the revealing “flame dress” designed by Bob Mackie in 1977 and worn by four divas: Cher, Tina Turner, Beyoncé and Ru Paul. There’s Hollywood nostalgia with a fringed black dress worn by Marilyn Monroe in Some Like it Hot (1959), and high camp with Dame Shirley Bassey’s hot-pink feathered dress and diamante monogrammed wellies, which graced Glastonbury’s Pyramid stage in 2007. Other curios include a mother-of-pearl encrusted needlework box presented to opera legend Jenny Lind in 1848 in recognition of her charity work, and a throat spray belonging to legendary wartime warbler Edith Piaf (1915-1963).
The term “diva”, meaning “goddess” in Latin, was originally associated with leading ladies, the prima donnas of the opera world, as a way to describe their divine talent. Around the time Italian soprano Adelina Patti (1843-1919) became one of the most recognisable faces in the world, the term began to suggest something more. Patti demanded high fees and amassed a fortune rarely enjoyed by a woman, investing much of this in an extravagant lifestyle (donning Parisian couture and setting up residence in a Welsh castle tended by 70 staff, for example), all of which helped sustain public interest, and kept the box office buzzing.
At the same time, divas of the spoken word were beginning to gain similar star status. Headstrong actor Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923), whose tantrums were tolerated by theatre companies due to her unparalleled ticket sales, was a master of melodrama both onstage and off. An eccentric hedonist who wore a hat topped with a stuffed bat, kept a menagerie of exotic animals, and notched up a long list of highly distinguished lovers, she moulded her own image and set her own agenda, marketing herself through the artwork of Alphonse Mucha, and building up a cult of celebrity.
The birth of the motion…
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