Chris Martin's Viva La Vida costume
Rock and Pop Costume
early 2008 (designed)
early 2008 (designed)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
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.
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.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 3 parts. (Some alternative part names are also shown below)
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| Title | Chris Martin's <i>Viva La Vida</i> costume |
| Brief description | 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. |
| Gallery label | COSTUME WORN BY CHRIS MARTIN OF COLDPLAY
2008
This costume created an image for Coldplay that reflected the themes of their 2008 album Viva La Vida. The album’s cover artwork featured Delacroix’s painting Liberty Leading the People and the band worked with Stella McCartney and Sara Jowett to design a ‘uniform’ reminiscent of French revolutionaries. They were styled this way for the next two years of album promotion and world tours.
Cotton, jersey, embroidery and paint
Designed by Stella McCartney, Sara Jowett and Coldplay
Styled by Beth Fenton
Given by Chris Martin
Museum no. S.1000:1 to 3-2010
(April 2012) |
| Credit line | Given by Chris Martin |
| Summary | 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. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | S.1000:1 to 3-2010 |
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| Record created | June 30, 2010 |
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