The pale flesh coloured net dress was made in September. I kept it as transparent as possible. We had recently bought a small wood on the edge of the farm that hadn't been used or walked in much for years. The idea of the dress came from the first walk I took in the new wood. I picked up a random collection of leaves and bits that I found. I was very excited to find the skeleton holly leaves as I didn't know it was possible to get the aggressive ho1ly to appear so delicate and fragile. All the leaves and bits were used on the dress were exactly as I found them (detail 1).

The pale net dress was burnt to rough it up a bit and help me get the feel for the narrative behind the making. The dress looked like shredded cobwebs, and the skeleton leaves looked comfortable with the singed fabric (detail 2).

The walk in the wood early one morning showed the dew-laden spiders webs glistening in the sun and so the spider idea grew. Though I have to admit that the dead spiders were mostly found in the recesses of my studio (detail 3). The snail shells and the sheep's teeth were all collected in the wood and gradually the piece began to take shape.

Detail of back of dress, showing
skeleton leaves and head of snake.

 

I collaged some pieces of flesh coloured lace onto the dress for a touch of reality and faded glamour.
There is a stream running along the edge of the wood and the pale blue net at the base of the dress represents this. I wanted this to be barely noticeable.
At this stage I had to interpret the quilting aspect of the piece. I hadn't used sewing on my work before and I did a lot of research into traditional and contemporary quilting and thought a simple running stitch would work well with the surface of the dress as it was developing. I used blue at the base to enhance the blue net/river shapes and silver elsewhere to represent the spiders webs in the sunlight.
I toyed with the idea of introducing some element of the sinister nature of woods. Two children had recently been abducted and were found buried in woodland. I tried adding small childish objects, blond curls, dirty sweet papers but the idea of soiled innocence seemed distasteful.
I added a lot of pale sequins around the hem of the dress but they showed up too much and where peeled off, which by chance left a feint mark which alluded to the fact they had been there, which somehow seemed more appropriate.
The holly leaves on the breasts I liked, a touch of aggression was needed (detail 4). The snake skin across one shoulder reminded me of the sashes worn by the Miss World contestants. The skin had been found on the farm but I have to admit not quite in the wood.
I added feathers (detail 5) and moth wings and some dried grasses, anything found in the wood that would not jar the overall look of the piece and be in line with the concept behind its development. Just before I took it all to the American Museum I found some wonderfully bright red fungus growing on decaying wood. I collected and dried them a little and they added a touch of zing to the final piece. I am not sure if they will last the whole six months of the show.
I finally threaded some fine wire around the base of the dress to make it stick out and appear to be floating.