Queen singer Freddie Mercury's kimono worn at home to go on display in V&A Dundee exhibition

He is one of the most outrageous and flamboyant singers in the history of rock music.

But the simple home comforts enjoyed by Freddie Mercury are about to take centre stage in a major new exhibition in Scotland.

A kimono won by the late frontman of Queen will be going on display at V&A Dundee as part of a celebration of the garment spanning more than 350 years.

The attraction has announced Mercury will be one of the leading cultural figures featured in a coming exhibition devoted to what it describes as “the ultimate symbol of Japan”.

A kimono owned by Freddie Mercury will be going on display in a Japanese fashion exhibition at V&A Dundee next year. Picture: Victoria and Albert Museum

Mercury is said to have started collecting Japanese art and antiquities after Queen toured Japan in 1975, five years after the trailblazing band were formed in London.

V&A Dundee has secured a revival of the exhibition, which had a short-lived run in London three years ago when it was cut short by the Covid lockdown. It will show how the kimono has been used as a “dynamic and constantly evolving icon of fashion.”

Mercury’s kimono went on display at the V&A in London, alongside an Alexander McQueen dress worn by Bjork on her Homogenic album cover, a Jean Paul Gaultier ensemble that Madonna wore for her Nothing Really Matters video and Alec Guinness’s robe as Obi-Kenobi in the original Star Wars film.

Full details of the kimonos going on display at V&A Dundee are being kept under wraps until closer to the exhibition’s launch in May.

This 19th century women's kimono will be going on display in a Japanese fashion exhibition at V&A Dundee next year.

However, V&A Dundee said: “Rare 17th and 18th-century kimono are displayed together with fashions by major designers, and iconic film and performance costumes. The kimono’s recent reinvention on the streets of Japan is also explored through work by an exciting new wave of contemporary designers and stylists.

“The exhibition reveals the sartorial and social significance of the kimono from the 1660s to the present day, both in Japan and in the rest of the world."

Curator Anna Jackson said: “Freddie Mercury’s wearing of a kimono reveals how this iconic garment has the power to transcend national, cultural, sexual and gender identities.”

Other highlights of V&A Dundee's 2024 programme include the first chance to see a major new tapestry exploring life in Dundee from 1850 to the present day. The work, which has been created by more than 100 volunteer stitchers, will feature 35 different tapestry panels designed by Andrew Crummy, the artist behind the Great Tapestry of Scotland.

Queen frontman Freddie Mercury performing during the Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium in London in 1985. Picture: Press Association

The tapestry will celebrate the likes of Dundee's industrial heritage, its role as a cultural and creative hub, its biodiversity, its trailblazing women and its health workers. The museum will be drawing on the V&A’s collection for an exhibition exploring dedicated to photography of cities around the world.

Images of Tokyo, London, Amsterdam, San Francisco, Rio de Janeiro, New Delhi, Glasgow, Dundee and Ukrainian heritage sites will feature in the show, Photo City, which opens in March.