BFI Donates Costume Archive To V&A

THE British Film Institute has donated over 500 costumes to the Victoria & Albert Museum.The BFI's archive is one of the largest collections of film costumes in the world.

Highlights from the collection include a 1987 Superman costume worn on-screen by Christopher Reeve and the black tasselled dress worn by Marilyn Monroe in Some Like it Hot back in 1959.

Fittingly, the move was announced during last night's dinner to fete the museum's new major exhibition, Hollywood Costume - and marks the beginning of a close new relationship between the two organisations.

"The V&A is home to the National Collection for the Performing Arts and has one of the greatest collections of performance costume and fashion in the world," said Paul Ruddock, chairman of the V&A Board of Trustees."It is my great pleasure to announce that the BFI's wonderful collection of film costumes, a number of which are on display in Hollywood Costume, will join the V&A's permanent collections.Design for film is a fascinating subject and the transfer of the BFI's collection represents an exciting new area of collecting for the V&A."

The BFI collection was assembled over a 20-year period from 1980 to 2000 by the Museum of Moving Image - a section within the BFI which no longer exists.