Exhibition
The Music Is Black: A British Story
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Kim Appleby: A Life in Music, Movement & Fashion
Kim Appleby, one half of 80s pop music sibling duo Mel & Kim and formerly styled by the late Isabella Blow explores the ‘construction’ of a musical image.
1980s hit-making duo Mel & Kim, with top-ten tracks such as Respectable and Showing Out (Get Fresh at the Weekend). Over the decades since, her career has continued to flourish, including most recently as co-host of BBC4’s Smashing Hits! The 80s Pop Map.
Join Kim in conversation with Christine Checinska, the V&A’s Senior Curator, Africa & Disapora: Textiles & Fashion, for a look at her life through music, movement, and fashion – including discussion of how Mel & Kim’s unique sartorial identity was forged, and her recollections in later years of being styled by Isabella Blow.
This talk is one of a series held in advance of the opening of V&A East Museum, the V&A’s newest member of our family of sites, which opens in Spring 2026 with the exhibition, The Music is Black: A British Story.
