Labubus to burkinis: V&A unveils updated 21st-century design galleries

"What do the first ever baby monitor, Nigeria's 2018 World Cup kit, an 80s boombox, the smashed parts of Edward Snowden's computer, a Please offer me a seat badge and a Labubu have in common? They are all included in the V&A's Design 1990-Now galleries, which reopen to the public this week. The galleries, which run across two rooms on the upper floors of the museum, also house a collection of antique books."

"With 250 exhibits, including 60 new additions, this can mean different takes on one theme across decades, as with the women at work section. It features a power suit from 1986 but also a plastic-lined bra worn by women working on production lines in China to avoid being searched, and a pair of fast-fashion jeans like those made in the factories at the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh that collapsed due to a structural failure."

"The exhibits also demonstrate how history repeats itself, by using designs decades apart. This is clear with a poster calling for No More Racist Murders after the death of the teenager Rohit Duggal in 1992, which is displayed next to one commemorating Eric Garner, the Black man killed by a white police officer in 2014. There are 11 objects sourced from Rapid Response, a scheme that allows members of the public to suggest contemporary objects to be included in the museum's collection."

The V&A's Design 1990-Now galleries have reopened across two upper-floor rooms, presenting 250 exhibits with 60 new additions. Displays are organised by six themes—such as housing and living, crisis and conflict, and consumption and identity—rather than strict chronology. Exhibits range from early baby monitors and an 80s boombox to Nigeria's 2018 World Cup kit, parts of Edward Snowden's smashed computer, a Please offer me a seat badge and a Labubu. The women-at-work section juxtaposes a 1986 power suit with a plastic-lined bra used on production lines and fast-fashion jeans linked to Rana Plaza. Eleven Rapid Response objects reflect contemporary public-suggested items.

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