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A new Spice Girls exhibition will display Leeds-born Mel B's trademark giraffe print catsuit complete with 'Mel B' crystal-studded belt. The exhibition is built around the extraordinary collection of Liz West. She is the foremost collector of Spice Girls memorabilia and merchandise in the country with almost 4,000 items devoted to the girl band.
Collector Liz originally hails from Barnsley but now lives in Huddersfield.
Mel B, 35, was born in Harehills and lived in Burley she now lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two daughters.
Visitors to Leeds City Museum will be able to add a touch of spice to their lives when the new special exhibition begins in January.
Impressive nature
Spice Girls collector Liz West said: "I was always extremely keen for this museum to play host to my collection, mainly because of the impressive nature of the venue but also because Leeds is Mel B's hometown." Liz started her collection by buying two copies of the band's single 'Spice Up Your Life' at the age of 12 in 1997. So began an obsession which over 14 years has seen Liz collect Spice Girls items including outfits worn by the band, accessories, platinum discs, books, magazines and dolls from all over the world. The exhibition will be the first time Liz's full collection has ever been on public display.
As well as the cat suit it will also include the famous Union Jack boots worn by Geri Halliwell in Istanbul for the group's first-ever live concert, Emma Bunton's blue sequin dress from the band's performance at the 1997 Brit Awards where Geri made her show-stealing appearance in a Union Jack dress. Other items include outfits worn on the Spiceworld tour, a gold and diamond-studded watch worn by Victoria, the director's script from Spiceworld: The Movie and the platinum CD the band were awarded for selling over four million copies of the album Spice in America in 1997.
The band Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm, Geri Halliwell and Victoria Adams were referred to all over the globe by the nicknames Scary, Baby, Sporty, Ginger and Posh.
Girl power
Following debut single Wannabe which topped the charts in 31 countries in 1996, the Spice Girls enjoyed phenomenal success selling over 80 million records worldwide, having nine UK number one singles, starring in their own feature film and creating the 'girl power' mantra. The group finally disbanded in 2008. Latterly the band have moved on to many different solo projects. The Leeds exhibition was announced at the same time as news broke of Victoria Beckham's (née Adams) fourth pregnancy. The free exhibition runs from Friday 28 January until Sunday 3 July, 2011 at Leeds City Museum.
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