How do you translate the electrifying power of global music and screen icons into a museum experience and what does it really take to reclaim the word diva?
When the Denver Art Museum was named the exclusive venue in the Americas to host the Victoria & Albert Museum's landmark DIVA exhibition, bringing that story to life required more than showcasing stagewear. It meant exploring how generations of performers—from 19th-century opera pioneers to modern pop icons—used fashion, performance, and stagecraft to claim their visual identity, challenge societal norms, and assert total creative autonomy.
Today on Catching the Editor’s Eye, host Georgia Alexia Benjou is joined by Denver Art Museum leaders Jill D'Alessandro, Director and Curator of the Avenir Institute of Textile Art and Fashion, and Holly Harmon, Interpretive Specialist for Architecture and Design, to go behind the scenes of this extraordinary show.
Together, they explore how the V&A exhibition was thoughtfully adapted for its U.S. debut, how performance garments serve as visual declarations of empowerment and identity, the relationship between high fashion and performance wear, and how gallery interpretation turns complex cultural history into an unforgettable visitor experience.
