Costume worn in Bugsy Malone, designed by Monica Howe, 1976.

Alan Parker’s first feature film was the musical Bugsy Malone (1976), which featured a cast entirely played by child actors. It launched the careers of Jodie Foster and Scott Biao. Biao later reflected on the experience of making the film, ‘A kid’s fantasy: You get to dress up as gangster, you get to shoot guns that fire whipped cream, you get to drive cars with pedals that look like real cars, and you get to talk like a grown-up. I mean, you couldn’t ask for a better first big gig. Talk about getting you hooked on a business! It was fantastic’. The show remains the most performed musical in schools in the UK.

The British Film Institute (BFI) acquired its costume collection for display at the Museum of the Moving Image, which existed on the South Bank in London between 1988 and 1999. The collection is made up of British, European, American and Japanese films and covers the period from the silent film era to the mid-1990s. It contains a wealth of historic and significant film costumes worn by major performers and designed by some of the 20th century’s most important film costume designers. The collection was transferred to the V&A in 2015.