Oh yes, Kylie's 50p hot pants are art...

7:19am Wednesday 7th February 2007

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LEGEND has it they cost only 50p: the tiny gold lamé hot pants that became an icon after Kylie Minogue wore them in her music video Spinning Around.

A photographer found them for her and she had worn them twice - once for a shoot and then for a fancy dress party - before they were lost in her wardrobe. Until, that is, she rediscovered them the night before her hit single was to be filmed.

And now the miniscule garment, its gold somewhat scuffed, hangs in a museum. And not just any museum: the belated Victoria and Albert in London. Neatly boxed in a glass display cabinet, they are one of the highlights of a new exhibition devoted entirely to Kylie's outlandish stage wardrobe from her nine tours.

But are those hot pants art?

"Art is what you like or what you don't like," Kylie said last night as she arrived at the exhibition opening - an event that seemed more like a glitzy movie premiere.

The 38-year-old, dressed in a purple backless Dolce and Gabbana gown, posed for a small army of photographers on the freezing winter's night. "I was absolutely speechless," she gushed after a private tour of the exhibition. "It is a very strange feeling, I am honoured and overwhelmed."

The public seem to agree. The museum has had more than 4,000 pre-bookings for the show - its most ever. Although it is free, demand prompted curators to introduce a timed ticketing system.

The show is the V&A's first to be entirely devoted to a single pop star, even though it has displayed costumes from Elton John and Adam Ant.

But unsurprisingly, some critics scorned it. "Kylie - The Exhibition will add ballast to criticisms that the art scene has dumbed down and fallen victim to the charms of celebrity culture," The Times said.

And The Observer, the architecture critic and design expert Stephen Bayley admitted: "I am conflicted about this. If they are going to put Kylie's dresses in the chamber of horrors that is one thing, but if it is to be a mute celebration of the life of a celebrity, then it is not such a worthy thing."

However, V&A exhibitions chief Vicky Broackes said the show was "just what we should be doing".

"The V&A has always done exhibitions on contemporary culture and on fashion and on design," she told Local London. "It also holds the national collection on the performing arts. This exhibition is about all those things: fashion, design and performance."

Besides Madonna, Kylie is the only pop star with number one hits in the 1980's, 1990s and 2000s. It was "most unusual" to obtain stage costumes showing an artist's development over such a long period of time, Broackes said. The garments are on loan from the Melbourne Arts Centre, to which Kylie donated her collection.

Among the display are the khaki dungarees she wore in 1988 as the tomboy mechanic Charlene Mitchell in Neighbours, the Australian soap that brought her fame. Fifteen years later she wore the same suit in the music video for Love at first sight - but this time with yellow designer stilettos instead of work boots.

Walk on, and you see the revealing white hooded jumpsuit she wore in Can't get you out of my head. The pink showgirl corset and feather headdress by John Galliano that took six months to make. And the huge skirt that hid 12 dancers underneath during her KylieFever tour in 2002.

The museum also recreated Kylie's dressing room, complete with furry chair and leopard print suitcases. This is where she prepares for up to two hours before a show. During the performance, four dressers help her change below stage in what Kylie calls a 50-second "Formula One pit stop".

But at times, the display gets a bit too sugar-coated. Like the caption among her legion of Brit, MTV and Grammy awards: "While Kylie is a unique and enduring icon, she is also Kylie Ann Minogue, daughter of and Ron and Carol, the girl born in Melbourne, Australia, who has gone on to entertain and delight us all." Despite the astounding array of design, it is this sort of thing that risks turning the exhibition into a Kylie advertorial.

Nevertheless, last night it was all about the clothes. "Each outfit has not only one story but many stories about how it was made or it was last minute or it was falling off," Kylie said.

"My mum has definitely sewn on her fair share of sequins - my mum, my grandmother, myself, I think we've all done a little stitch in there at some point."

Reporters were under strict orders not to ask Kylie about the end of her four-year relationship with French actor Oliver Martinez. The pair announced their split on Friday. When asked how she felt, all she would say was: "I'm here tonight ... it's all good."

In a large-print statement above the exhibition entrance, Kylie paid tribute to her parents who have scooped up glamorous outfits from dressing room floors for almost two decades. "Were it not for my parents, I'm sure this collection would be the size of a suitcase rather than an exhibition space."

• Kylie - The Exhibition, Victoria & Albert, London, until 10 June 2007. Free. Book in person at no charge on the day of visit, or 48 hours in advance on www.vam.ac.za/kylie for a £2 service fee.