Step into the creative worlds of David Bowie – artist, disruptor, icon.  Explore the costumes, sounds, lyrics, and sketches that mapped his many reinventions and use his radical imagination as a springboard to something new.

The David Bowie Centre at V&A East Storehouse is the new permanent home for David Bowie’s archive. The space will host everything from guest-curated displays to unrealised projects. Here are 5 things you need to know about the David Bowie Centre and the items it holds.

1. There are over 90,000 items in the Archive 
The David Bowie archive includes 414 costumes and accessories, nearly 150 musical instruments and other sound equipment, as well as designs, props and scenery for concerts, film and theatre. Bowie’s own desk is part of the archive alongside notebooks, diaries, lyrics, correspondence, fan mail and over 70,000 photographic prints, negatives and transparencies.

2. The David Bowie Centre is a working archive with new reading and study rooms 
From September 2025, visitors can book to see Bowie’s costumes, musical instruments, models, props and scenery through the V&A’s new seven-day-a-week Order an Object service. You can also see sketches, writings, lyrics and photographs by requesting an appointment with the Archives team.

3. The Centre is also a new visitor experience  
The Centre is brought to life with a series of small, curated displays. Highlights include 1970s Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane ensembles designed by Freddie Burretti and Kansai Yamamoto as well as a film showcasing performances from Bowie’s career, and an installation tracing the impact of Bowie on popular culture.

 

4. Nile Rodgers and The Last Dinner Party are guest curators
On opening in September, the centre will feature an exclusive guest-curated display by multiple award-winning musician, producer, songwriter and Bowie-collaborator, Nile Rodgers, and Brit-Award-winning indie rock band, The Last Dinner Party. Their selections include Bowie’s Serious Moonlight tour suit, personal correspondence between Bowie and Rodgers about the 1993 Black Tie White Noise album, plus handwritten lyrics for ‘Win’ from the 1974 album Young Americans and set lists for Bowie’s 1976 Station to Station (Isolar) tour.

 

5. You can get a glimpse into Bowie’s unrealised projects  
Bowie’s extraordinary creative capacity included ideas for a number of projects that were never realised. The displays will show some of these, from an idea to adapt George Orwell’s 1984, to plans for Young Americans and Diamond Dogs films.