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Sun 26 Aug 2007
Next month, following record-breaking visitor numbers at previous stagings in London and Manchester, Kylie: the Exhibition arrives at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow. Picture: Getty Images
Kylie's hot couture
JOHN DAVIDSON
KYLIE MINOGUE is a phenomenon. At just 5ft 1in, and petite as a Polly Pocket, the pert-bottomed popsicle enjoys a level of popular affection way beyond that routinely accorded to the most dazzling of superstars. Her success is global, crossing geographical and generational divides, and her likeability is legendary. Oh, the one woman who really could challenge Diana for the title of people's princess surely must be little Ms Minogue.
Next month, following record-breaking visitor numbers at previous stagings in London and Manchester, Kylie: the Exhibition arrives at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow. Queues will stretch beyond the horizon as Pa, Ma and the Weans grasp this opportunity to inspect the baggy overalls Minogue wore 20 years ago as Charlene in Neighbours; to gasp at the extravagance of the spectacular headdresses made by master milliner Stephen Jones for her Showgirl tour; to ogle at those microscopic gold hotpants that so memorably graced her celebrated derrière in the video for 'Spinning Around'...
Amid the gallery's Rembrandts and Van Goghs, alongside its medieval armour and Mackintosh treasures, this a celebration befitting a cultural icon. But does the 39-year-old singer really merit such an honour?
"You could say she's a little like a modern version of Vera Lynn, the forces' sweetheart," suggests Stephen Jones, who has helped create some of Kylie's most fantastical stage costumes.
"She's the girl who made it, the girl who can do no wrong. And her recent battle with cancer has only further endeared her to us. That word 'icon' is used so carelessly these days, but I think it truly applies to Kylie."
You can't imagine the Melbourne-born Kylie unleashing a diva tantrum. "Never," confirms Jones. "She's extremely professional, with an extraordinary wealth of experience as a performer. But she is not a prima donna, and not at all grand. I think she's still genuinely delighted by her success - perhaps a little surprised by it. Her status has given her confidence, but she has humility too. A slight vulnerability is most certainly part of her charm."
Even when she fell under the potentially dark influence of bad-boy rocker Michael Hutchence, she was never caught throwing television sets from hotel windows or diverting the Colombian cocaine harvest to her winnebago. Yet neither is she exactly boring - unlike most good girls, she has tangible sex appeal. And whenever she plays vamp or ultra-camp (and heaven knows her videos harness a lot of such role-play), her performance retains a knowing sense of irony. On stage, she radiates self-assurance, and she has made increasingly shrewd choices about her career in terms of what she should be doing - and with whom she should be working. She's a smart cookie, and even though she took most of 2005 off to fight cancer, she still managed to double her annual earnings - to £4.5 million.
Of course, some of the movies she has made during her 20-year career have been absolute stinkers. And there have certainly been periods (not least her dalliance with the indie music scene) when she has tried the patience of her mainstream fan base. But in her re-establishment as the first lady of disco, unlikely collaborations with Nick Cave or the Manic Street Preachers (not forgetting her relationship with Hutchence) have clearly served a purpose.
Her spectacular contribution to the closing ceremony at the Sydney Olympics is the most-watched performance of all time. And it's hard to think of a single performer whose fans represent quite such a broad church.
It helps that her likeability is matched (in part fuelled) by genuine talent. Whether or not you rate her irrepressibly and unapologetically lightweight music, you have to acknowledge Minogue as an accomplished performer.
According to Pete Waterman, architect of her earliest success as a recording artist: "She has a great voice, a terrific sense of humour, a fabulous personality, and she knows how to really sell a song."
She has always connected with the gay community, but middle-aged straight men fantasise about her too. And what they'd do, given half the chances of on-off boyfriend Olivier Martinez. Given her all-round perfection, her lack of a lasting relationship is something no one can fathom. GQ once gave her a special award for 'services to mankind', and Heat magazine readers have voted her the sexiest celebrity in the world. Women secretly long to be her and, rather like a real-life Barbie, she also connects with the under-tens for whom the highlight at Kelvingrove will surely be the roomful of feathers and sparkly nonsense from which they'll be encouraged to fabricate their very own costumes.
She knows how to make the fashion world work for her - in recent years trusting the sharp judgment of her stylist William Baker and nurturing cosy relationships with a coterie of leading designers including John Galliano, Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel, and Dolce and Gabbana.
The Italian design duo - whose contribution to the famous wardrobe is represented by a pair of hipster trousers with belt buckles from hip to ankle, and a silver mesh top Minogue wore for the MTV Europe Music Awards in 2002 - describe the singer as "an eclectic and fabulous personality on stage". But their friendship goes far beyond the professional. Following her cancer treatment, they whisked her off to their Italian seaside home to give her time to recuperate and escape the prying eye of the media.
Her style has certainly progressed, from the unsophisticated ingenue with a bubble perm in 'I Should Be So Lucky' to the postmodern sex kitten in a white-hooded jumpsuit singing 'Can't Get You Out of My Head'. Much of that transformation is down to Baker, whom Minogue met while he was studying theology at King's College London and working part-time at the Vivienne Westwood shop. It was he who tracked down those famous hotpants for 50p at Oxfam (they are now insured for £1 million), encouraging her to make the most of what is far and away her best asset. He was also responsible for taking the scissors to a beautiful, bejewelled Julien Macdonald dress for her performance with Justin Timberlake at the 2003 Brit awards.
"I spent many sleepless nights sewing crystals on to Kylie's outfits," recalls the designer. "There never seemed to be enough sparkle on these dainty clothes."
After calling on Macdonald for a last-minute show-stopping frock for the Brits, she was given a long, black, backless number with crystal detailing at the neck. By the time she appeared on stage, however, it had been transformed into a slashed-to-the-thigh mini. "That night my heart stopped," says Macdonald. "Kylie had cut the dress. She did look fantastic, though, and it made all the front pages, so all was forgiven."
These days, her off-stage looks tend to be elegant, dignified and rather closer to prim than pretty. There's a clear divide between the real Kylie Ann Minogue wearing, for instance, that classic white crocheted Chloé dress (which also features in the exhibition) and her fabulous persona in sparkling corsets and 3m-high feathered headdresses who can have a stadium audience eating out of her hand.
Unlike Madonna or Gwen Stefani, who have made a strong fashion sensibility a major part of their cults, Minogue has never been known to inspire a trend. However, on those relatively rare occasions when she has put her name to a fashion project (the Love Kylie lingerie line or this summer's swimwear range for H&M for example) the merchandise has sold like hot-cakes.
The Glasgow manifestation of Kylie: the Exhibition promises to prove equally compelling. Despite our salacious interest in the foibles and fallibility of celebrities, a lot of people are prepared to celebrate one star who doesn't spend more time in rehab than the recording studio. What's not to like about Minogue? Very nice, and not too naughty: oh, she's almost too good to be true. r
Kylie: the Exhibition opens at Glasgow's Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum (www.glasgowmuseums.com) on September 21. Entry is free
SEMINAL MINOGUE MOMENTS
1987 NEIGHBOURS WEDDING
Some 23.8 million soap fans watched the nuptials of Scott (Jason Donovan) and Charlene (Kylie).
1987 LUCKY, LUCKY, LUCKY
Kylie launches her career as a recording artist with global no 1 singles 'Locomotion' and 'I Should Be So Lucky' - and a platinum-selling album.
1994 FACE OF FAME
As a measure of her extraordinary cross-over appeal, Kylie graced the cover of Britain's most capricious style bible The Face.
1994 DOING DIBLEY
Kylie appeared in the BBC's Vicar of Dibley sitcom as the surprise guest of honour at Dibley village fete.
1995 VIDEO NASTY
A controversial collaboration with Nick Cave culminated in the disturbing video for 'Where the Roses Grow', in which Kylie appeared as a drowned corpse.
2000 SYDNEY OLYMPICS
Kylie's rendition of 'Dancing Queen' at the closing ceremony is the single most-watched performance of all time.
2000 SPINNING AROUND
Kylie's pert derriere in tiny gold hotpants may have played as significant a role in her resounding comeback as her renewed focus on pure disco-pop material.
2001 MOULIN ROUGE
Director Baz Luhrmann abandoned his original intention of depicting the green fairy in cartoon technique for a memorable cameo performance by Kylie. She sang an operatic version of 'The Sound of Music'.
2005 SHOCK AND AWE
After being diagnosed with breast cancer, Kylie is forced to postpone the Australian leg of her Showgirl tour and cancel a headlining appearance at Glastonbury.
2006 MAKING AN EXHIBITION
Kylie: the Exhibition at the V&A in London becomes the best-attended installation in the museum's history.
2007 DOCTOR, DOCTOR
She is set to star in the hotly anticipated Christmas episode of Doctor Who, playing a doomed waitress aboard the Titanic.
This article: http://living.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1341002007
Last updated: 25-Aug-07 00:56 BST
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