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Art

It took 14 years and 380 global embroiders to make one stunningly meaningful dress

A truly multicultural art project with style touches from 51 different countries.

Photos courtesy of The Red Dress project
Embroiderer Lekazia Turner wearing The Red Dress.

Few things bring people together more beautifully than art. Whether it's music, sculpture, paint or fabric, the arts are a way for us to express ourselves, our cultures and our common humanity. But rarely do we witness one singular piece of art truly encapsulating the creativity of our human family.

At first glance, the dress created for the Red Dress project is quite obviously stunning. It looks as though it could be worn by a royal—though a royal from where? The style, colors and patterns of the dress don't shout any particular country or culture; in fact, we can point to different elements of it and say it looks like it belongs on any continent.

There's a reason for that. The dress is made out of 84 pieces of burgundy silk dupion, which spent 14 years being sent around the world to be embroidered by 380 people from 51 countries—a truly global, multicultural creation.

Of those 380 embroiderers, about a third were commissioned artisans who were paid for their work and receive a portion of all ongoing exhibition fees. The rest were volunteers who contributed their stitches at events in various countries. Approximately 97% of the embroiderers were female.

British textile artist Kirstie Macleod conceived the project in 2009 as "an investigation into identity, with a desire to connect with women from the around without borders and boundaries." The basic design started as a sketch on the back of a napkin and has grown into a tangible garment that is not only a gorgeous work of art but a platform for women around the world and from all walks of life to express themselves and have their voices heard.

As shared on the project's website:

"Embroiderers include female refugees from Palestine and Syria, women seeking asylum in the UK from Iraq, China, Nigeria and Namibia, victims of war in Kosovo, Rwanda, and DR Congo; impoverished women in South Africa, Mexico, and Egypt; individuals in Kenya, Japan, Turkey, Sweden, Peru, Czech Republic, Dubai, Afghanistan, Australia, Argentina, Switzerland, Canada, Tobago, Vietnam, Estonia, USA, Russia, Pakistan, Wales, Colombia and England, students from Montenegro, Brazil, Malta, Singapore, Eritrea, Norway, Poland, Finland, Ireland, Romania and Hong Kong as well as upmarket embroidery studios in India and Saudi Arabia."

On Instagram, Kirstie Macleod shared a panel of the dress that was embroidered by two women in Kosovo, who shared some of their reflections on their experiences in the war there.

They stitched words into the birds they embroidered:

"Better one winter in your own country than a hundred springs away."

"The greatest wealth is to live content with little."

"Freedom has come. Love yourself first."

"Love all. Trust some. Hate none."

"A winter is a winter. Be nice, everyone."

"We live in peace now."

The creation of the dress began in 2009 and was completed in 2023. Each woman embroidered a piece of her own story into the dress, which contains millions of stitches. From established professional artisans to first-time embroiderers, the women were encouraged to share something that expressed their personal identities as well as their cultures. Some used traditional embroidery styles that had been practiced for hundreds of years where they are from. Others stitched in meaningful elements of their life stories. Some of the women are also using textile work to rebuild their lives and earn a consistent living.

The dress is on tour, being displayed in museums and galleries around the world. The photos showing women of various ages and ethnicities wearing the dress are made all the more moving knowing the history of how and by whom it was made.

In May 2025, a book detailing the dress's creation and journey around the world was published and can be found here.

Absolutely stunning. What a wonderful idea to connect women in a way that lets them share their stories and showcases and beautifully honors them.

This article first appeared three years ago and has been updated.

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Pop Culture

Artist paints characters as described in books, then shares side-by-side with film versions

He doesn't know who he's painting, and it's fascinating to see who is close and who is way off.

Jazza/YouTube

Jazza tries to guess who he's painting based only on written descriptions.

Anyone who's watched a film based on a book has experienced the disappointment of a movie character not matching their imagined version of what a character looks like. Book authors offer descriptions of characters with varying levels of detail, usually just enough to help us form a mental picture or give us necessary information about them, so we may not all imagine them the same way.

Some characters' physical features are crucial to their story, such as Harry Potter's lightning-shaped forehead scar, but some are just an author's attempt to share whatever they themselves imagine a character to look like. There's often a lot that's open to interpretation, though, so it's a bit of a crapshoot whether a film depiction of a book character will match a writer's description of them—or a reader's vision based on that description.

One artist is exploring this phenomenon with a video series in which he paints characters based solely on their written descriptions. Jazza, who has made a name for himself on social media with his creative art videos, is given the features of a character as described by a writer without being told who the character is or where they're from. Then we see how his depiction compares to the character as shown on screen.

Sometimes his paintings are surprisingly close to the film character and he is able to guess who the character is based on what he drew. Some are more mysterious and he doesn't know who he's painted until it's revealed. And occasionally, it's not a character that's being described but a real person, which is the case with the last painting in this video, and it's extra hilarious. But it's always fascinating to see someone paint a picture of what they're visualizing in their mind, since most of us aren't able to do that.

Watch:

If you enjoyed those attempts, check out Part 2:

The series has more parts and he also has a series where he sculpts monsters based on their descriptions. So fun to watch!

Here's to the human imaginations that create characters on the page and those who bring them to life on screen. Different creative skills, but both so valuable to the storytelling that help us tap into our humanity.


This article originally appeared last year.

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Education

Brain researcher reveals the fundamental persuasion rule to get people to do what you want

Don't start with the details.

via LinkedIn Sales Solutions/Unsplash

A salesman showing a client the big picture.

So you’ve got a great idea for a Hawaiian vacation you want to sell to your spouse, but you’re not entirely sure they’ll go along with the idea. If you want to know the best way to sell them on the trip, you should follow the advice of John Medina, a brain researcher and professor who wrote the “Brain Rules” series of books.

In "Brain Rules," Medina argues that the best way to persuade someone is to show them the big picture first. "Don't start with details," he writes. “Start with key ideas and, hierarchically, form the details around these larger notions."

So, instead of starting the conversation with the fact that your buddy Rick at work has a brother who has an AirBnB in Waikiki and can get you a place to stay for $125 a night. Or, kicking off the pitch by outlining a deal on Aloha Airlines where if you fly on Thursday mornings from a specific airport, you can save 37% on a round-trip flight to Honolulu.

Start with a big-picture idea. “Did you know we can spend a week in Hawaii for under 2 grand?”

The rule is based on a fundamental neuroscientific truth: The brain craves meaning before detail.

neuroscience, brains, persuasionThe human brain. via Curtis Cripe/Flickr

Medina argues that humans need to feel a connection to the story before they are willing to pay attention to the details. “Normally, if we don’t know the gist—the meaning—of information, we are unlikely to pay attention to its details. The brain selects meaning-laden information for further processing and leaves the rest alone,” Medina writes in his book.

Communication coach and Harvard instructor Carmine Gallo says the rule is rooted in human evolution. "When primitive man ran into a tiger, he did not ask, how many teeth does the tiger have? Instead, it asked, will it eat me? If you want your team to get behind a new initiative, give them the big picture first,” Gallo said in a keynote address.

The great thing about this rule is that it has many different applications, from interpersonal relationships to business to social media. Gallo says that when trying to persuade someone, we should consider sharing our ideas as if they were tweets. “The big picture, however, must be short. I like to keep the top-level message no longer than a Twitter post of 140 characters,” he writes.

steve jobs, apple, iPhoneSteve Jobs shows off iPhone 4 at the 2010 Worldwide Developers Conference.via Matthew Yohe/Wikimedia Commons

Steve Jobs did a great job selling Apple products by introducing them with a simple, big-picture idea that enticed people to pay attention. He started with the big picture when introducing the iPhone in 2007. "Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone,” he said. “The iPhone is a revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone."

On a deeper level, the rule is all about understanding a simple part of human nature. You must have a compelling story from someone to want to listen to you, follow your lead, or change their mind. But once you have them hooked on the big picture, convincing them of the details is a piece of cake.

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It can be tough for kids to talk to parents. So they're putting their stories onto film.

True
State Farm

As Will Smith once said: Parents just don't understand.

Sometimes, it’s just hard to tell your parents things, and most kids struggle with finding ways to express themselves as a result.

But just because kids talk less sometimes doesn’t mean they don’t have stories to tell.

If anything, kids and teens are in the story-filled prime of their lives. They don’t just grapple with friends and family, relationships, gossip, school, and work — kids are also privy to conflicts of race, gender, sex, class, and other issues. It’s a complicated world out there, and kids know it.

That’s why re:imagine/ATL is giving them the tools they need to tell those stories in a powerful, and sometimes more comfortable, way. By equipping kids with film skills, re:imagine/ATL is handing them the mic — and letting them tell their own stories and make themselves heard.

Hear from the kids themselves how learning to film stories is changing their lives:

This group is teaching kids the skills they need to tell the stories of their communities through film.

Posted by Upworthy on Monday, September 11, 2017

When it comes to storytelling, everyone is on an equal playing field — which means that more diverse, more interesting perspectives have an opportunity to be heard.

As the program's founder Susanna Spiccia says, "Creativity — it doesn't discriminate."

For kids who are marginalized, that makes creativity a lifeline. Helping kids find a way to tell their stories doesn't just result in good stories, it also results in empowered kids.

At re:imagine/ATL, kids are pitching films focused on just about everything. Taj-Malik is telling "stories about [his] childhood," while Kalyn is addressing "how it's a little bit harder to do things when you're a girl."

Chris is pitching "a motivational piece," and Baldwin has ideas for "horror, drama, romance, comedy, action." For him and the rest of the kids at re:imagine/ATL, the sky is the limit.

There are lots of reasons it’s important to let kids tell their story their own way.

Society is biased when it comes to listening to grown-ups more than kids. Even stories about kids’ lives end up being told by adults. Remember the movie "Boyhood"? It was all about the experience of being a boy. And, yet, it was written and directed by a 42-year-old man.

Where are the stories about kids, told by kids?

When we hand kids the camera, there's no telling what they'll come up with. As volunteer Lisa Cunningham says, "We could be in camp with the next Spielberg."

The problem goes beyond just craving authentic storytelling. Too often, policy that applies to kids is debated and decided on by committees of adults. When kids are given a platform to voice the issues that affect them most, they’re able to be heard by the people who make the decisions that affect them.

But getting film experience is more than just a platform for telling stories. It’s also a huge leg up in a competitive industry.

In Atlanta, where the film and television industry is growing rapidly, kids who invest their interest in learning camera techniques early could see it pay off professionally down the road.

Normally, internships and entry-level jobs are slanted toward students with a hefty amount of privilege. But with re:imagine/ATL, kids from all sorts of backgrounds have the opportunity to get practical hands-on experience that could be the thing that becomes their foot in the door to a successful future.

That's something that doesn't need to be limited to Atlanta. As Spiccia says, "If you are in the film industry or you're in media period, you have a skillset that you can give back to our kids."

In any town, professionals have an opportunity to be a good neighbor to the younger generation, by passing on their experiences to kids who can then turn them into major opportunities.

And as the city of Atlanta proves, that’s a great thing for communities.

Empowering Atlanta's kids with film skills is an act that has powerful ripple effects. Not only does it set up a big portion of this generation for success, but it also allows them to go on to become mentors to other kids too.

Plus, you never know — the next huge thing in Hollywood could be something that was made right here in Atlanta.

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