On Tuesday, we welcomed British artist, Kirstie Macleod, to our first Academic Enrichment lecture of the Spring Term to talk about The Red Dress Project.

The Red Dress Project was conceived by Kirstie in 2009, starting out as a project to connect women from across the world, who are often living in poverty and marginalised, to share their stories through the median of embroidery. We learnt about how the dress has been constructed and how it has evolved over time. Through a range of beautiful images and a vibrant film, Kristie brought the dress to our screens, revealing details of different sections of the dress and showing us how each panel has become increasingly more embellished over the past 12 years. The dress is now symbolic of so many women’s voices and stories from across the world, made particularly striking by Kirstie’s comment that it’s now moved “from an art piece to being about the creators of the piece”.

I am particularly proud of our Art scholars who were our panellists for the evening, asking Kirstie perceptive and pertinent questions. It was particularly interesting to listen to why Kirstie chose the colour red for the dress; to both allow the embroidery to stand out and as a symbol of vitality, emancipation, and womanhood. The dress will be in London later this year and we look forward to running a trip to visit it!

If you missed the lecture, you can catch up here.

Eleanor Chapman, Head of English