The Victoria and Albert Museum in London has announced that it is set to secure the archive of David Bowie, featuring more than 80,000 items – including handwritten lyrics, original costumes, Bowie's own instruments, and more.

The archive will be available to the public from 2025, through the establishment of The David Bowie Centre for the Study of Performing Arts at V&A East Storehouse, in Stratford's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

According to the V&A, the archive "traces Bowie's creative processes as a musical innovator, cultural icon, and advocate for self-expression and reinvention from his early career in the 1960s to his death in 2016."

As well as featuring letters, sheet music, fashion, photography, film, set designs, album artwork, awards, and more, the collection will also include "more intimate writings, thought processes and unrealised projects, the majority of which have never been seen in public before."

The stage costumes in the collection include his Ziggy Stardust ensembles designed by Freddie Burretti, Kansai Yamamoto's creations for the Aladdin Sane tour, and the coat designed by Bowie and Alexander McQueen for the Earthling album cover. There will also be handwritten lyrics for the likes of 'Heroes', 'Ashes to Ashes' and 'Fame'.

Quilted two-piece suit, 1972. Designed by Freddie Burretti for the Ziggy Stardust tour. The David Bowie Archive

The collection includes examples of the "'cut up' method of writing introduced to Bowie by the writer William Burroughs", as will as notebooks from every era of his life and career.

The V&A has revealed that "acquisition and creation of The Centre has been made possible thanks to the David Bowie Estate and a generous donation of £10m from the Blavatnik Family Foundation and Warner Music Group."

“David Bowie was one of the greatest musicians and performers of all time," says Dr Tristram Hunt, Director of the V&A. "The V&A is thrilled to become custodians of his incredible archive, and to be able to open it up for the public. Bowie’s radical innovations across music, theatre, film, fashion, and style – from Berlin to Tokyo to London – continue to influence design and visual culture and inspire creatives from Janelle Monáe to Lady Gaga to Tilda Swinton and Raf Simons.

"Our new collections centre, V&A East Storehouse, is the ideal place to put Bowie’s work in dialogue with the V&A’s collection spanning 5,000 years of art, design, and performance. My deepest thanks go to the David Bowie Estate, Blavatnik Family Foundation and Warner Music Group for helping make this a reality and for providing a new sourcebook for the Bowies of tomorrow.”

We are thrilled to announce that the exceptional archive of legend @DavidBowieReal is coming to the V&A! Spanning 80,000 items across his 60 year career, you can explore Bowie’s life’s work in ways never possible before at @vam_east Storehouse from 2025 #DavidBowieArchive pic.twitter.com/sTGtJnydKB

— V&A (@V_and_A) February 23, 2023