Cirque du Soleil is a French-Canadian circus show, started in the early 1980s by the young street-performer Guy Laliberté, which includes a mix of dance, acrobatics, contortion and music. Over recent years, it has gained more of a global presence and its popularity has increased dramatically due to its touring in various different countries across the world.

I’ve never seen a live showing of Cirque du Soleil but, having come through the Francophone school-system in Canada, I had a lot of exposure to it while growing up. “Cirque de Soleil Acrobatics” was offered as a Physical Education class, one of our end-of-the-year assemblies was based on recreating a Cirque performance for the parents and I’ve spent many afternoons watching the filmed versions of the shows with friends. The Cirque du Soleil was a running theme at my school for several years; perhaps this is why the dress spoke to me so strongly and created such a vivid impression.