Textiles

The V&A is a family of art, design and performance museums. We hold a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects, books and archives that span over 5,000 years of human creativity.

We proudly look after many of the nation's national collections and houses some of the greatest resources for the study of architecture, furniture, fashion, textiles, photography, sculptures, paintings, jewellery, glass, ceramics, Asian art and design, theatre and performance.

Our mission is to champion art, design and creativity in all its forms, advance cultural knowledge, and inspire makers, creators and innovators everywhere. 

The V&A holds the national collection of textiles and fashion, which includes more than 75,000 individual objects or sets of objects that span a period of more than 5,000 years, from Predynastic Egypt to the present day.
Almost all textile techniques are represented in our collections, including woven, printed and embroidered textiles, lace, tapestries and carpets. Among the particularly rich areas are early woven silks from the Near East, European and Chinese tapestries, English medieval embroidery (opus anglicanum), Safavid carpets, Indian textiles, and Arts and Crafts textiles.