The night owls of London have always worn the prettiest plumage. This summer, the Victoria and Albert Museum will dust off its studded leather and head back to the city’s club scene heyday with the exhibition “From Club to Catwalk: London Fashion in the ’80s,” opening in July.

Inspired by the fashions worn at underground clubs like Heaven and Leigh Bowery’s Taboo, the exhibition will celebrate the wild and theatrical looks of the 1980s, an anything-goes spirit epitomized by the likes of Bowery and Boy George, and reflected in influential indie magazines like i-D and Blitz. On display will be more than 85 outfits that span the bridge between club wear and couture, including creations from Betty Jackson, Timney Fowler, Wendy Dagworthy, Helen David for English Eccentrics, Rifat Ozbek, and John Galliano, then just an upstart from Saint Martins.

Highlights of the show will include studded biker gear by Pam Hogg and Katherine Hamnett, accessories from Stephen Jones and Patrick Cox, and wild-style knits by Joseph, Artwork, and Bodymap. In addition, the exhibition’s organizers are working to reunite a series of 22 Levi’s denim jackets commissioned by Blitz magazine and customized by designers Vivienne Westwood, Richard Cornejo, Zandra Rhodes, Paul Smith, and Jasper Conran.

The exhibition, which will include a mini-club of its own as well as an archive of magazines, will be divided into different themes based on the decade’s fashion tribes: Fetish, Goth, Rave, High Camp, and New Romantics. From dresses for men to looks that spread around the world, the show promises to be exuberant, eccentric, and totally English.

To see images from the V&A exhibition, click on the slideshow. 

“From Club to Catwalk: London Fashion in the '80s” will be on view at the Victoria and Albert Museum from July 10, 2013 to February 16, 2014.