This was part of my Independent Research and Construction Project. I looked at the character of Marquise de Merteuil and how her characters perception changes throughout the play. My main idea for the piece was that each layer of the costume represents the character in a different way. The top layer represents who Madame de Merteuil shows to her audience, her reputation and public image. The middle layer represents her actual position and personality. She is a woman trapped by her society where the only power she has is to manipulate men but her society tells her that this is wrong. The final layer is who she would like to be. A modern woman, free from the oppression of her time, not looked down upon for using her sexuality to get what she wants. “I had no choice, did I, I'm a woman…You can ruin us whenever the fancy takes you: all we can achieve by denouncing you is to enhance your prestige…And I've succeeded, because I always knew I was born to dominate your sex and avenge my own.” Hampton 1985
Photography by Mark Gillham, Robin Mitchell and Cara McAllister