'Rags to Riches' - Dress inspired by Burlesque and Victorian Fashion

This is one of my most recent peices of work. At the front I have specialised in smocking which I learnt to do as a sample in my Rags to Riches project and then practised until it was neat enough to make into a garment. The dress is inspired by burlesque and Victorian fashion, keeping things that they both have in common (the bustle and the corset) and twisting together things that they don't have in common, which in this case would be the look of femininity and purity of an upper class Victorian lady, (hence the rich colours and the lace) as well as making the skirt shorter at the front and a little longer at the back to give it a sense of suggestiveness, which occurred alot in the outfits burlesque dancers wore.