Let Them Eat Cake was developed for the UAL Wimbledon BA (Hons) Costume for Theatre and Screen collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum, as part of Sound on Stage — a live performance project inviting designers to reinterpret historical artefacts from the museum’s collection through costume and performance. Inspired by Vivienne Westwood’s Dressing Up collection, the project reimagines 18th-century silhouette through themes of political excess, spectacle, rebellion, and theatrical femininity.

Combining historical research with contemporary costume practice, the work explores the relationship between fashion, performance, and cultural symbolism. The costume was developed through corsetry, draping, structured silhouette construction, textile manipulation, hand embellishment, and experimental surface techniques, creating a contemporary interpretation of historical opulence influenced by punk aesthetics and performance costume design.