This Spice Girls Exhibit Will Spice Up Your Life

The rumors keep flying about a Spice Girls reunion. And while that may or may not happen, this new exhibit is serving up some serious nostalgia and has me digging in the back of the closet for my patent leather platform boots.

The SpiceUp exhibit opened in London on July 28 to be followed by the Manchester opening on August 24. SpiceUp is a follow up to the 2016 retrospective curated by collector, Alan Smith-Allison, however, this go-around is a collaborative effort to include items on loan from other collectors, costume, and fashion designers; totaling to about 7,000 pieces of merchandise and 300 wardrobe items.

SpiceUp Manchester curator Liz West, who won a Guinness World Record for her elaborate collection that consist of costume pieces, cassettes, autographed photos, dolls, and other one-of-a-kind memorabilia—all of which is on loan for the exhibit—spoke on her connection to the group. “They each dressed to suit themselves, showing a strong and confident set of female personalities that appealed to a wide and diverse audience,” West tells Vogue UK. “If you didn’t like how one girl dressed, there was a good chance you would like another.”

At the time of their debut, the uber famous girl group was a strong representation of individuality and unapologetic spunk, something that curator Smith-Allison says he connected with. “In the 1990s, I felt that I wasn’t fitting [with the idea of] how a boy should be,” he says to Vogue. “Then the Spice Girls came along and said, it’s alright to be yourself – embrace it and release your quirkiness. That was what really resonated with me when I was 15 and a bit lost.”

While we anxiously await the return of our favorite British pop stars, the SpiceUp London exhibit will be on display at London’s Business Design Centre until August 20 before moving to Manchester Central from August 24 to September 4.