Dr Veronica Isaac, CDH member and Senior Lecturer in Fashion Design History in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Brighton, outlines her recent CDH-supported project on Decadent Costume.
Background to the Project
A collaboration between Dr Adam Alston (Goldsmiths University, London) and Dr Veronica Isaac (University of Brighton) Decadent Costume brings together Alston’s work in the field of decadence studies – specifically his Staging Decadence Project, https://www.stagingdecadence.com/ and Isaac’s specialism in costume for performance.
The collaboration came about through a joint consideration of the relationship between decadence and the crafting of appearance. As Adam has explained in a longer post about the project: “This needn’t mean ‘looking good’; it might mean just the opposite. Very often, decadence is about the crafting of appearance through dissimulation and the art of the pose, often poses that are not afraid to find pleasure in unconventional tastes, relishing disgust, or offending moral sensibilities.”
Decadent Costume explores how decadence fabricates and through this process of fabrication and creation, can demand – or directly enact – reappraisal and change.
These investigations provided the impetus and starting point for a pilot event launched as part of the Friday Late: Feminist Futures at the Victoria and Albert Museum on Friday 26th April. Commissioned performance makers, artists and drag and burlesque performers performed live and designed costumes in response to the museum and its holdings, with additional artists presenting video recordings of their work.
Our priority was to reach, engage, and exchange knowledge with, specialist and non-specialist audiences, while at the same time promoting marginalised queer and trans artists – collaborating with them to push the parameters of decadence.
A grant secured through the AHRC Impact Acceleration Account at University of Brighton enabled us to cover travel and accommodation expenses for artists, to contribute towards costs of their costume materials and to pay them a fair wage for their performance. As importantly it provided funds to pay three Student Event Assistants (recruited from the Curating Collections and Heritage MA and Doctoral School). Their assistance was invaluable, both in the delivery of the live event and gathering and reflecting on audience feedback afterwards.
Further vital support from the Centre for Design History made it possible to commission our wonderful graphic designer Zed Gregory (They/Them Studio) to create a visual identity for the project and produced a flyer and logo to promote the event online.
Figure 1: Promotional Flyer for Staging Decadence: Decadent Costume. Designed by Zed Gregory of They/Them Studio.
Gangrenous Glamour
Our spectacular cabaret took place in the Lydia and Manfred Gorvy Lecture Theatre on the first floor of the museum. This usually formal space was carefully lit and decorated to evoke a suitably ‘decadent’ atmosphere – with audience members invited to join performers on stage and lounge on mounds of lavish textiles.
Figure 2: Interior of the Lydia and Manfred Gorvy Lecture Theatre with E.M. Parry’s durational work Pricklings taking place in the foreground and extracts from films by Angel Rose Denman’s The Rose (2014) and jaamil olawale kosoko’s The Entertainer (2022) projected on the rear wall. Photo: Sofia Natoli.
Tickets were free and the show ran twice. Visitors were also able to drop in to watch a montage of films by Angel Rose Denman & jaamil olawale kosoko, and to interact with artist E.M. Parry’s durational work Pricklings.
With Sadie Sinner as our glamourous MC, the evening featured: a balloon-clad boylesque ballet from Hasard Le Sin; a sophisticated striptease from Queen of the Burlesque, Jolie Papillon; a live auction of Drag Queen Lilly Snatchdragon; an unsettling beautiful duration work from E. M. Parry and a heartrending performance from Nando Messias (with music by CN Lester), which evoked the spirit and aesthetic of the Weimer Republic (garment design by Max Allen and Elliot Adcock).[1]
Figure 3: Mwice Kavindele, aka Sadie Sinner The Songbird: founder and curator of The Cocoa Butter Club, and our MC for the evening. Photo: Sofia Natoli.
Figure 4: Nando Messias summoned ghosts, past lives, and trans stories emerging from the archive, foregrounding costume in provocative but poignant acts of remembrance. @nancymessias. Photo: Sofia Natoli.
Figure 5: Lilly SnatchDragon, co-founder of the all-Asian cabaret collective The Bitten Peach, worked hard to get the decadence she deserves! @bittenpeachuk @lillysnatch. Photo: Sofia Natoli.
Figure 6: Jolie Papillon, one of the foremost and internationally-acclaimed stars of burlesque. Their work is virtuosic and provocative in equal measure, and for this event they referenced the top hats of Marlene Dietrich and Anita Berber. @missljoliepapillon. Photo: Sofia Natoli.
Figure 7: Hasard Le Sin: overindulgence gets its gleeful reward in Hasard Le Sin’s over-the-top rococo queerlesque extravaganza! @hasard.le.sin. Photo: Sofia Natoli.
Figure 8: E. M. Parry’s Pricklings – an intimate, interactive durational spectacle exploring trans embodiment and autonomy, staging the artist as trans saint, queer icon, fetish object, witch’s poppet, a ritual, a test, a game. @e_m_parry. Photo: Sofia Natoli.
These transgressive performances transformed the museum space. Through acts which critiqued and expanded established ideas about decadence, feminism, costume and the body they shifted and enriched audiences understanding of ‘decadence’ and ‘costume.’
Legacy and Impact
Decadent Costume illustrates the essential role collaboration plays in democratising access to museum collections and developing more inclusive and innovative research outputs. Our aspiration is to make this event the first of many, and to continuing collaborating with marginalised queer and trans artists to activate and disrupt further spaces and collections. Through offering space and support for their creative practice, and inviting audiences to see and experience their work, we will continue to push for a nuanced and evolving interpretation of decadence – Asking: What is decadence? And who is it for? And, most importantly who might it be for, when embodied, enacted and ‘fabricated’?
The evening was captured in a short film, which is hosted on YouTube and available to view here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIDltxBnWK8
You also can learn more about the event here: https://www.stagingdecadence.com/blog/live-and-late-at-the-v-and-a and explore the Staging Decadence and past events here: https://www.stagingdecadence.com/
Acknowledgements:
This event was made possible thanks to funding from the Centre for Design History and Impact Acceleration Account, University of Brighton, the V&A, the AHRC, and with institutional support from Goldsmiths, University of London.
We would also like thank staff at the V&A for hosting and facilitating the event, particularly Carrie Chan, Adonis Fuyana, Aaron Kelly, Niamh Kelly, Thomas Matthews, Simon Sladen, and Faunsia Tucker, and to our event assistants from University of Brighton: Al Meggs, Liliane Broschart, and Max Harding-Jones.
Film and photographic material from the night was shot and edited by Farhath Siddiqui and Sofia Natoli.
Flyer and promotional material designed by Zed Gregory @ https://www.theythemstudio.com/
Learn more about our artists:
Durational performance & films
- M. Parry’s Pricklings – an intimate, interactive durational spectacle exploring trans embodiment and autonomy, staging the artist as trans saint, queer icon, fetish object, witch’s poppet, a ritual, a test, a game. @e_m_parry
Angel Rose Denman presents surreal happenings from inside a Gothic dream home in her short film The Rose (2014). @angelrose.universe
jaamil olawale kosoko’s The Entertainer (2022): an Afrofuturist, shapeshifting study of the fugitive realities of Black diasporan people. @jaamilkosoko
Cabaret, in order of appearance
Mwice Kavindele, aka Sadie Sinner The Songbird: founder and curator of The Cocoa Butter Club, and our MC for the evening. @SadieSinner
Nando Messias summoned ghosts, past lives, and trans stories emerging from the archive, foregrounding costume in provocative but poignant acts of remembrance. @nancymessias.
Lilly SnatchDragon, co-founder of the all-Asian cabaret collective The Bitten Peach, worked hard to get the decadence she deserves! @bittenpeachuk @lillysnatch
Jolie Papillon, one of the foremost and internationally-acclaimed stars of burlesque. Their work is virtuosic and provocative in equal measure, and for this event they referenced the top hats of Marlene Dietrich and Anita Berber. @missljoliepapillon
Hasard Le Sin: overindulgence gets its gleeful reward in Hasard Le Sin’s over-the-top rococo queerlesque extravaganza! @hasard.le.sin
[1] Due to unforeseen circumstances, the fabulous Jolie Papillon delivered an act (with two hours notice and in suitable stylish attire) in place of the equally fabulous Tamm Reynolds.
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