Punk to Pop

Punk to Pop opens at V&A South Kensington on Saturday 13 March 2027, and it's a long one — it runs until 2 January 2028, so you've got nearly a year to fit it in. The exhibition looks at the creative explosion across music, art and fashion from 1972 to 1985, and the names on the bill tell you exactly where it's heading: The Sex Pistols, The Slits, The Specials, Joy Division, Wham! and Eurythmics. It's a wide sweep, from the raw edges of punk and post-punk through to the polished pop of the early eighties.

Much of what you'll see comes from the V&A's own collections, which already hold the Sex Pistols archives, a large body of Vivienne Westwood's work and the graphic archives of the time. The show traces British punk and its aftermath, from the visual hallmarks of the era — ransom-note graphics, safety-pinned clothing and the New Romantics — to the sleeve designers and video directors who shaped the look of the period. It's as much about the art and the clothes as it is about the music.

The narrative runs from the flamboyant aesthetics of glam rock and disco into the underground scene and the emergence of new subcultures, before closing with the global pop culture primed for the digital age. It's a way of seeing how a generation of radical artists, united by a punk DIY spirit, responded to austerity and political turbulence. The V&A, best known for fashion, has been doing more music shows in recent years, with Hallyu! The Korean Wave in 2022, DIVA in 2023 and The Music is Black at V&A East.

Punk to Pop runs from 13 March 2027 to 2 January 2028 at V&A South Kensington, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 2RL.