“A Night of Seduction: A queer celebration of the Femme Fatale:

Photo - Missy Fatale by Pauline Di Silvestro

Descending into Mayfair’s Dear Darling you can’t help but feel you’re stepping into a lost secret London bordello, forgotten to an ever-changing city landscape to greedy developers it is the perfect setting for a sultry evening or erotic escapism. The ornate softly lit bar, carefully selected crowd and performances blend elegance, sensuality and femininity. This event is a night that feels simultaneously intimate and grand - Parisian in flair yet distinctly London in sophistication.

Back for a third time in this space is The Sublime Society London co-curated by international showgirls and performers Charlie Bouquett (The Sublime Society - Berlin & Paris) & Missy Fatale (Haus of Fatale), it brings together clientele looking to elevate their understanding and experience of queer female sexuality.

As I walk around this space the first thing that I notice is the crowd which is mixed but predominantly women making up the larger demographic. The space is busy but not uncomfortably so- filling up any space on a Thursday night is no small task and this has been done impeccably well. Attendees are both poised and lounging on the abundance of soft furnishings, while the strategic low lighting allows shadows to dance across gilded mirrors and plush furniture. The music, a perfect balance of sultry beats and classical undertones, provides the desired ambiance and each cocktail on offer is a crafted masterpiece, complementing the aesthetic and offering a sensory journey before the performances have even begun. The martini comes as dry, dirty or filthy- I go for filthy.

The guests, a crowd curated for both elegance and energy, are dressed to impress- this is not a night to wear a temu harness but rather silk, tailored garments and quality lingerie and corsetry. High-end tickets had attracted those who saw this not just as a night out, but as an experience and space to witness a playground of sensuality. Opportunities to have pictures taken with the cast as part of a meet and greet package gives a warm openness to attendees in awe of the lineup of well established fetish performers and plays with the boundaries of unattainability- beauty can be admired but also interacted with in a respectful way.

Performances began to weave the night together, each act a carefully choreographed exploration of desire and style. A girly pillow fight erupted with playful energy after a seductive build up of feminine bonding through the ritual of care. Candle pouring followed, a daring display of trust and intensity, beauties on ribbon collars glided gracefully, led through the space in a hypnotic display of elegance and submission. A ballerina perfectly poised and removing silk bows showcases her movements in a delicate provocative performance. Every act invited curiosity, wonder, and a celebration of the many ways femininity is experienced.

At the centre of this nocturnal soiree of the demimonde is (now) Berlin based Charlie Bouquett & London based Missy Fatale, whose international experience as showgirls brings a refined flair and a precision to the curation of every moment. Their vision transformed the night into a narrative, a choreography of seduction, elegance, and empowerment. The artistry reminds us that fetish and femme-focused events can be elevated, stylish, and culturally significant, bridging the underground and the mainstream in ways that feels thoughtful and unapologetically fun.

The set up of this event encourages and allows people to connect, to talk and to socialise between performance- myself included. One woman, recently out of a relationship with a man and still feeling the pangs of heartbreak, was embracing the night as a chance to reclaim her femininity and confidence. For one gentleman it was the first time he had left his house in over 7 months due to illness and provided an opportunity to soft launch himself into attending more outings. An engaged couple about to get married spoke about how the event was a stepping stone into open discussions around play, bisexuality and bedroom performance. Across the room, other guests were exploring curiosities — some stepping into experiences with rope for the first time, beautifully demonstrated by roaming teachers providing 1:1 support.

The night was punctuated with moments that were intimate and unexpected. Watching the all-female cast interact throughout the night, I saw how subtle gestures — a glance, a tilt of the head, the curve of a wrist — could carry as much seduction as any grand performance. The provocative smile during the pillow fight reminded everyone that play and sensuality need not be solemn, that femininity can be powerful, joyful, and lighthearted all at once. The candle pouring, demonstrated the thrill of consent, and shared experience. The climax of the night showcases Charlie’s impeccable shibari work, a performance that engages you for the entirety of the piece. There is a shift in energy and mood from previous performances, this piece shows authentic play, and allows onlookers to see BDSM play in its entirety as opposed to snapshots curated for titillation. The wrapping of the frame in soft taffeta and bows, the careful movement of the model's hair and passionate closeness that comes from being at the mercy of rope and the shibari artists’ imagination exhibits Charlie's deep understanding of her own craft. The ending of the piece gives the guests the same relief of closing a sexually charged session- people debrief, people relax further back into the arms of their lovers and by the end of the night, the energy had shifted from anticipation to fulfilment.

Events like the Sublime Society London are an important addition to the scarcity of sophisticated queer-focused erotic events. They create spaces for exploration and connection that are otherwise rare and sometimes hard to nurture in large club events. In London’s somewhat vibrant nightlife (although this sentiment is open to discussion), there are few nights where identity, sensuality, and the romance of the divine feminine and the intoxicating elegance for the femme fatale archetype are celebrated at such a high standard. For Charlie Bouquett & Missy Fatale, the goal was never merely spectacle — it was to craft an experience where elegance, art, and sensuality intertwined seamlessly. In doing so, they remindLondon’s fetish scene that nights like these are about empowerment as much as they are about pleasure, about artistry as much as they are about exploration.

In the broader context of London’s nightlife, events like this are culturally vital. They elevate alternative lifestyles into celebrated artistry, offering experiences that are as mentally stimulating as they are sensually satisfying. By curating nights that are both luxurious and welcoming, Haus of Fatale & Sublime Society combine to create The Sublime Society London - contributing not only to the fetish scene, but to the city’s identity as a hub for creativity, diversity, and bold self-expression.

It was a celebration of what it means to be seen, to play, and to explore safely and stylishly. For anyone seeking the intersection of elegance, seduction, and performance, nights like this are essential — and unforgettable.

By Matthew Groves

Sublime Society: London’s Exclusive New Club For Queer Bondage Performance Art

Photo - Miriam Veil (L) & Charlie Bouquett (R) by Pauline Di Silvestro

There are certain events that can only happen in Mayfair. A luxury erotic performance art salon is one of them. Down the carpeted stairs and wood-pannelled walls of Dear Darling, the Sublime Society is about to make its London debut. It would not be at home in a grubby warehouse, or on a cabaret stage to an audience of sweaty, sticky club-goers. It has the heady flavour which is all too-often missing in modern sex: opulence.

I enter the main bar of Dear Darling shortly before the show is due to begin, trying not to trip on the stairs in pink heels. The room is dressed with plush sofas and velvet armchairs, lush green drapery and low, jangling chandeliers. In one corner stands a glass wardrobe which will later open to reveal a nightclub in the bowels of the building. Two hostess models in bloomer underwear, white wigs and boaters float around the venue fanning themselves, coquettish and glamorous. I sign in and head to the bar, where I try to order a Prosecco. The bartender pours me a glass of Moet instead, a true-to-form West End accident. I see hot married couples and artsy singIes, the erotic intellectual elite. I take a seat on a buxom fringed armchair, and breathe in the deep scent of designer perfumes, face powder and latex.

The Sublime Society is the creation of “international burlesque and variété artist” Charlie Bouquett, who holds a residency at former women’s prison venue The Knast in Berlin. Not exactly the turn-of-the-century Parisian brothel vibes of Dear Darling (the planned venue for the upcoming Paris show is an actual former brothel), but perfect for Berlin’s more industrial inclinations. She set out for the Sublime Society to move away from the male gaze of cabaret productions she’d worked on behind-the-scenes. “I was slightly horrified, I’m not gonna lie, when I started to work on the other side of things and I was in meetings, predominantly – as it would come to no surprise to anyone – with a lot of cis white men, who were just outright objectifying and discriminating against my fellow performer colleagues,” she tells me over the phone.

“It would tend to be, like, who do they fancy most that month, or who has the best set… There was a show I was in where one of the storylines was a character coming in and drugging all the girls and them all taking their clothes off. There was a common theme there, which seemed to be that these productions were being creatively directed by a very specific type of man. My response was to start something that was run and led by FLINTA [Femme, Lesbian, Intersex, Non-Binary, Trans and Asexual] creators.”

Charlie has co-created the London outing with burlesque artist and House of Fatale founder Missy Fatale, who is also the creative director of Wilderness Festival’s Queer arts and cabaret stage, the House of Sublime

In her ‘manifesto’, Missy describes Sublime Society London as an “exclusive hedonistic soirée, a sensual salon where fantasy and desire merge in an intimate, romantic setting.” She expands on this during our interview. “There’s loads of shows and lots of sex parties, but there’s nothing that’s totally femme-focused and a little bit more artistic. There’s no MC. So it’s not about giving applause. It’s more about the experience, and the audience absorbing it in a reflective way.”

Opening the event is Missy herself, who appears in cream lingerie and a feather-trimmed nightgown, with enormous ostrich strip tease fans. They tickle my shoulder as she dances past. The performers of the Sublime Society move through the audience, who lounge in expensive lingerie like cats on velvet cushions, or stand in heels and PVC boots to the sidelines. There is not a stage, but a small cleared patch of the venue housing a suspension frame for the shibari segment. I worry I won’t be able to see the “stage” from my seat, until my friend points out that you can watch over the crowd from the mirrored ceiling. This intimate, voyeuristic atmosphere is deliberate, according to the creators. “It’s more like you’re all allowed to watch, and it’s happening whether you’re there or not,” says Missy. “It doesn’t change the nature of what’s being viewed, but it’s a different, sensory experience for the audience.” Charlie calls it a “soft invitation” into the world of kink.

She is followed by a Queer fetish performance by Adreena Angela, a London dominatrix who on this night is dressed in a floor length burgundy latex gown. She guides the pin-up model Miriam Veil to the floor, where they start a lengthy, sapphic seduction routine to Ave Maria, which involves grapes. Miriam is an innocent doll, wrapping her arms around her white underwear, while Adreena is a vampish goddess, caressing her neck and unfurling her with a dangerous caress.

“Adreena and Miriam, you could just stick them in any old fetish club, and it would just be a fetish performance, but it’s about the context,” says Missy. “I think setting the scene for people to take from the art what they will is quite an important thing to do… the performers have to be completely comfortable in their own sensuality.”

If you’ve ever seen those vintage fetish postcards with Victorian women in black wigs, whale bone corsets and ankle cuffs, being bent over by other women, you can imagine the kind of aesthetic on display here. At one point a (male) sub is sat on and spanked with a bunch of roses (this is due to a femme dropout, but both creators say they don’t want any men in future performances). Leah Debrincat, a belly dancer wearing a gold rib cage bikini and chiffon skirt shakes out a fan of swords in one brisk movement, quietly sliding round the room like a dangerous reptile.

“The performers have to be completely comfortable in their own sensuality.”

Charlie champions the second half, with a lengthy and hypnotic shibari suspension show. She ties Miriam in layers of rope, lovingly, purposefully, and hooks her into the suspension frame, until both her legs dangle in the air. She weaves roses into the rope, petals dropping over her body.

“The ultimate goal is to demonstrate and encourage people to play more creatively,” says Charlie. “And break down the taboos and stigma a little bit around some things. Like Shibari, for instance – I take that and make it something very slow and sensual and romantic, beautiful… I want to introduce people to how I see it.”

Charlie Bouquett (L) and Miriam Veil (R), photo by Pauline Di Silvestro

Selling out from its first event, the Sublime Society is proof that for all the taboo breaking of the early 20s sex party boom, there is no replacing the exquisite beauty of tease. Sometimes sex should feel aspirational, fantastical, and inaccessible. You might secretly hope some of that art and sex rubs off on you as the performer’s feathers wick over your shoulder. Or you may just run to the nearest Agent Provocateur.

By Helen Meriel Thomas