THE PEACOCK DRESS

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Overview
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The Peacock Dress is a narrative illustration project exploring British colonialism in India through the lens of fashion and craftsmanship. The project centers on the lavish gown worn by Lady Mary Curzon at the 1903 Delhi Durbar — a celebration of King Edward VII’s coronation — and tells the story from the imagined perspective of the dress itself.

Objectives
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1. Investigate the colonial history embedded in luxury objects, specifically the cross-continental labor involved in the making of the Peacock Dress.

2. Illustrate the dress as a narrator, blending visual storytelling with historical context to examine themes of power, exploitation, and identity.

3. Reflect on personal heritage and diasporic identity by reinterpreting an artifact of empire through an Indian-American lens.