I'm Antonio. My pronouns are he/him and I am 61 years old. Full disclosure: I was an actor for 20 plus years and then in my 40's, moved sideways into actor roleplay for business training, and simultaneously went into academia, got my degree, got my masters, taught theatre studies at university, and...

My name is Vanity Dare and I "fell into" burlesque. It became a sort of glass slipper moment for me. I took burlesque classes with Lady Wildflower and after creating an act during the intermediate course, she asked me whether or not I'd ever wanted to go on stage. ‘Absolutely not - never, not up...

My name is Gemma and my performer name is Seedy Frills. I chose my name because my surname is Seed so I wanted to keep that. It’s also quite personal because growing up I've had the nickname Seedy from my family and my friends, so I've always been called Seedy as a nickname. Also, when I'm backsta...

After you've signed up to the archive and verified your account, when you log in you'll be taken to your profile page. Here you will find two options. On the right you can click on 'browse stories' to see the entries that other people have uploaded to the archive. On the left you can click '...

This was a costume which was custom created for me by designer Alex Herring, my longtime collaborator. It was a commission from Haus of Suarez, for their vogue ball themed Atlantis. The costume was the first in a trilogy of sea sirens, and inspired in equal parts by the lionfish, and the aristocracy...

The creation process of my chartreuse velvet costume, with the use of vintage fabric and upcycled vintage clothing.

This website is a place for the burlesque community to share, collect and explore fabulous costumes, acts and stories. It has been co-created by the Fabulous Femininities project team alongside our partners and advisors.

Nerdlesque is a subgenre of a larger movement that you may have also noticed, Neo Burlesque, which is the revival (over the past few decades) of the vaudevillian striptease hybrid that everyone has come to know…