I’m so incredibly excited to announce that Edmonton burlesque performer Violette Coquette, someone whom I have costumed for almost a decade and is a dear friend, competed at the 34th Annual Burlesque Hall of Fame Mx Exotic World competition in Las Vegas, and placed 2nd Runner Up! This is huge news for our local community and we couldn’t be more proud!
Violette competed last year in the Best Debut category and won 1st runner-up, along with Most Classic and Most Dazzling awards for her “Least Naked Woman” act. We created the costume for this act during COVID-19, one of the only costumes I took on during the height of the pandemic while I was on hiatus. From the initial sketches, to the online pandemic shows performers did to keep the art alive, to seeing her travel the world performing this act, and then seeing it on that Vegas stage, it was an absolute pleasure to see how the act evolved into a world-class performance.
(Thanks Violette for having the best website with these amazing highlight reels lol)
Being part of the Best Debut category allows her to apply to compete in the Mx Exotic World competition in subsequent years- which she did this year and was accepted into with her Deitrich Rose act. This act was one of the first I costumed for her, and it is an act that holds special meaning because she performed it at my wedding. I included her Instagram post's quote about it, as it describes her experience with it.
“It was such a dream to share this love note of an act for all of you on the Burlesque Hall of Fame stage this year! It wasn’t a perfect performance, or the best I’ve ever performed it (those BHoF nerves are REAL, all!!! Nothing like performing for 800 of your peers, in front of iconic judges, live-streamed for the whole world, lol) but I still made a few people cry, so mission accomplished 😘
I first debuted this act in early 2019 (my first concept for the pop-up skirt appeared in a Snowflake act I did in 2015?!). It has never stopped evolving in its 6-year life, a tribute to all the work and love that go into our burlesque offerings 💐
This act is my tribute to Marlene Dietrich, who famously wore a men’s tuxedo on screen in the 1930s, in a scene where she took a flower from a woman’s hair and then kissed her on the lips, all of which was impossibly scandalous for the era!
Every time I perform this act I go hunting for the most beautiful pink rose I can find, to gift to someone in the audience. It’s like a spiritual tradition for me at this point. I never know who will get it until the moment it happens - if you’re lucky enough to get such a rose from me, know it’s a gift to keep 💝
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Several fellow local burlesque pals and I watched the live stream, which was just an emotional ride. We cried when she won her award. So well deserved. Congrats Violette for all your success- the Worlds Duchess of Burlesque 2025! We seem to always have a new costume on the go- excited to continue alongside each other’s journeys, maybe we will see her on that stage once again!