Deus Ex’s Eliza Cassan became my burlesque muse

As the name implies, nerdlesque – a portmanteau of “nerd” and “burlesque” – combines fandom with the art of striptease. I compare it to fanfiction because we do more than strip a cosplay. A nerdy act tells a story, which, as in some fanfics, could just be a character getting ready for sexy times. I like reframing the main story or portraying a character in a different light, like giving Naked Snake the same sexual treatment many female characters received in the Metal Gear Solid games.

Because burlesque is a predominantly female industry, many of us nerdsquers have found themselves questioned about our dedication and knowledge of fandom. That’s why we tend to shy away from using an unknown character’s costume as inspiration. No one likes being accused of being a “fake fan.” Still, I decided to take that chance when creating my Eliza Cassan act.

I had already executed a fashion-first approach to nerdlesque with my solo debut. I used the trope of taking off the glasses to make the geeky girl as a starting point and created an homage to comic book fangirls. This time I’d be portraying a character rather than a fantasy version of myself, but if I could build a whole burlesque routine by taking off my glasses (and then revealing I couldn’t see) then I could certainly learn enough about a character to portray her accurately without having to play the video game.

Another hesitation came in creating an act that fit a very specific theme. So much time and money is put into an action that reusability is important. Most people avoid obscure characters for this reason, in addition to the fact that producers of non-nerdish shows tend to favor book nerdy acts with broad appeal. But Tuesday Tease was a weekly queer variety show that I co-produced and often performed on, so the themes were creative and encouraged artists to experiment. One of my co-producers suggested “robo Renaissance,” and we agreed to put it on the calendar. My determination to accurately portray the theme as a fan of steampunk and related genres led me to embrace the inevitable specificity of my routine. I searched for different terms for ideas: ‘robo Renaissance’, ‘clock punk’, ‘cyber Renaissance’. The last sentence got me Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

I first came one Eidos-Montréal Community Post about Zhao Yun Ru‘s character design that specifically mentioned renaissance fashion and transhumanism – jackpot! However, the Elizabethan collar, corset, and tight skirt seemed too restrictive to dance in, and I just wasn’t feeling the cream color palette. The next post I found, about Eliza Cassan’s design, provoked a different reaction.

Eliza’s collar had larger pleats than a traditional collar, making it more drag queen than the Elizabethan aristocrat. The sci-fi elements were more apparent with the triangular shape of her coat and its tails. Underneath, she wore an underdress with cutouts and stockings, which followed the fashion trend of lingerie as outerwear. She also sported fetish-inspired strappy thigh-high boots. All of these associations also inspired burlesque performers: the exaggerated silhouettes of drag, the softness of vintage lingerie, and the taboo sensual fetish. I could use that to my advantage when performing for an audience that has never heard of the Deus Ex games.

Photo: Allan Hayslip

Photo: Allan Hayslip

I had a look and someone to make the jacket (fellow performer Jessica Dahl), but I needed a story to tell. When I started researching Eliza’s character and the themes of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, I won the actual jackpot. Her celebrity persona was literally an artifice: she wasn’t a real person, but an AI created to control the media. I found a delightful irony in me – a shy, non-binary nerd – revealing a character’s true nature while still maintaining the fantasy of a sexy female show host off stage.

The hybrid styles in Eliza’s outfit reflect the hardness of an artificial construction and the soft projection of humanity. Her silhouette is stern and intimidating with the highly constructed coat and fetish boots, symbolic of unattainable celebrity status. As she interacts more with Adam Jensen, her personality emerges and we get to know the real Eliza. Take away the coat and boots, and there’s a fine lace underdress and floral fishnet stockings, which I’ve turned into thigh-high stockings so I can take them off. The twist is that among the trendy clothes, she’s just a series of ones and zeroes. My reveal would reflect the same, stripping down to simple black panties with binary numbers painted on them. The final element was the pasties, which were inspired by Eliza’s character designer’s comments about the pink in her collar. The color did not exist in the world of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, so its inclusion in Eliza’s outfit foreshadowed her artificial nature. I bought pink rhinestone pasties from Gothfox Designs with LED “nipples,” an extra nod to technology. And if spectators missed the story, they could still be entertained by surprising boob lighting.

In the world of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Eliza Cassan was widely embraced as a fashionable celebrity, and she eventually had similar star power in the real world of burlesque. Eliza’s beauty and high status kept her true nature hidden as she manipulated public opinion in the stories she reported. Through my re-creation of her extravagant outfit, I’ve included audience members who weren’t gamers or sci-fi fans in my retelling of her story. Perhaps some even became interested in it Deus Ex: Human Revolutionjust like I did when I first saw Eliza Cassan.