On the surface, the lemon-colored outfit that resides on a mannequin in artist Nao Bustamante’s studio is the very picture of femininity: a late-Edwardian ensemble, it consists of a floor-length skirt and a fitted jacket with dainty puff sleeves. It is the sort of fine frock you might expect to see on the subject of a late-Impressionist painting. Except for the fact that this graceful dress is made entirely out of bullet-proof Kevlar.

For five years, Bustamante has been researching the role of women in the Mexican Revolution — in university archives and research facilities and through first-hand research in Mexico, where she had the opportunity to meet with a woman who had been a part of the conflict.

“So I started researching the Revolution, looking into the role of women,” she says. “They were cooks, they were laborers, they were fighters, they maintained supply lines. It’s interesting to me how women get involved in a conflict, and this was a terrible conflict. So I wanted to make dresses that would protect these women metaphorically.”