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Rock and Pop costume - Chris Martin's Viva La Vida costume

Chris Martin's Viva La Vida costume

  • Object:

    Rock and Pop costume

  • Place of origin:

    London, England (designed)

  • Date:

    early 2008 (designed)

  • Artist/Maker:

    Jowett, Sara (designers)
    Stella McCartney (designers)
    Fenton, Beth (stylists)
    Coldplay (designers)
    American Apparel (manufactured by)

  • Materials and Techniques:

    [Rock and Pop costume] Cotton polyester mix, machine and hand sewing, painting, writing and cutting.
    [Rock and Pop costume] Cotton with hand stitched patches of cotton, jersey and embroidery.

  • Credit Line:

    Given by Chris Martin

  • Museum number:

    S.1000:1 to 3-2010

  • Gallery location:

    Theatre & Performance, room 106b, case 6, shelf B

  • Image in copyright

This costume was one of a series worn by Chris Martin, the singer with the British band Coldplay, during the period of their 2008 album Viva La Vida and 2008-10 world tours. The album's theme was of revolution with the cover art featuring the painting La Liberté Guidant le Peuple (Liberty Leading the People) by Eugéne Delacroix. To resonate with this idea, the band worked in association with Sara Jowett and Stella McCartney to design a 'uniform' that they would wear for the entirety of the album's promotional and touring period. The look was inspired by the Delacroix painting, representing the sans-culottes of the 1830 French Revolution while using bits of recycled fabric to compose a colourful military style, akin to the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's album cover costumes.
The Viva la Vida tour started in London with a free concert at Brixton Academy on June 16, 2008, and took in 74 cities across North America, Asia, Europe and Australasia, ending in Monterrey, South America on March 11, 2010, having sold more than 1.5 million tickets. With such a long touring period, Chris Martin had several of these uniform costumes made; this particular one was worn at Coldplay's Wembley Stadium gig on September 18, 2009.

Physical description

[Rock and Pop costume] A grey long-sleeve button neck t-shirt, with surface decoration and graffitied writing, and sewn on patches, with the lower hem cut off.
[Rock and Pop costume] A pair of distressed dark blue cotton trousers with patches sewn on.
[Rock and Pop costume] A military-style double breasted jacket of distressed dark blue cotton with patches of cotton and jersey sewn on, ribbons, brocade, mismatched buttons, plaited cotton strips around the neck line, piping and written decoration.

Place of Origin

London, England (designed)

Date

early 2008 (designed)

Artist/maker

Jowett, Sara (designers)
Stella McCartney (designers)
Fenton, Beth (stylists)
Coldplay (designers)
American Apparel (manufactured by)

Materials and Techniques

[Rock and Pop costume] Cotton polyester mix, machine and hand sewing, painting, writing and cutting.
[Rock and Pop costume] Cotton with hand stitched patches of cotton, jersey and embroidery.

Marks and inscriptions

[Rock and Pop costume] 'You can see / your future / inside a / glass of water / You can see / your future / inside a / glass of water'
[Rock and Pop costume] 'OBA / MAR / 8CK'

Dimensions

[Rock and Pop costume] Height: 65 cm, Width: 52 cm shoulder to shoulder
[Rock and Pop costume] Length: 107 cm, Width: 37 cm at waist, laid flat
[Rock and Pop costume] Height: 70.5 cm laid flat, Width: 56.5 cm

Descriptive line

Costume worn by Chris Martin, the singer with the British band Coldplay, during the period of their 2008 album Viva La Vida and 2008-10 world tours.

Categories

Entertainment & Leisure; Stage costumes

Collection code

T&P

Qr_O1160566
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