Watch out, fellas. That right there is a beetle-winged cougar.

The subject is Dame Ellen Terry. Famous actress and Victorian sex symbol. One of her early portraits was by painter GF Watts in the style of Titian, placing her in Renaissance dress and all. They married soon after and separated within a year. On top of the thirty year age difference, Watts wanted Terry to quit acting and she'd have none of that nonsense. Terry was in love with two things: the theater and being in love. She married five times, going full cougar at 60 by bagging her 30-year old co-star in a production touring America.

Sargent was fully enamored with Terry after seeing her star-making turn in 1888 as Lady Macbeth. He was immediately like, "I must paint you," cajoling the star into sitting for a portrait. Her gothic vogueing was invented by Sargent for the sitting, never appearing as a part of her performance on stage. While the painting didn't debut to universal acclaim, it caused quite the scene as crowds flocked to the gallery day after day to see what all the fuss was about.

The enchanting dress is made from 1000 shimmering beetles' wings. Beetles naturally and painlessly shed their wings, so we'll just go with the idea that the dress decorations were harvested humanely. Okay, PETA? Oscar Wilde saw Terry arrive at Sargent's studio for the portrait, cloaked in her coleopteric gown. Wilde was so struck by the sight that he later described the streets after "full of wonderful possibilities." The dress itself became an icon, appearing in every show for Terry's turn as Lady Macbeth and enrobing whatever actress took the role for decades afterward. Unfortunately, the dress was never properly cared for throughout the 20th century. It fell to pieces after a century of disrepair and decades of snagging on costume jewelry and scenery. In 2011, the National Trust spent £110,000 to repair it, using beetles' wings donated by individuals who apparently have beetles' wings just lying around.