Sun, Jan 12
|Historic Temple Theatre of Viroqua
FILM - The Nettle Dress
2023 1h 8m Textile artist Allan Brown spends seven years making a dress by hand, using only the fibre of locally foraged stinging nettles. This is ‘hedgerow couture’, the greenest of slow fashion and also his medicine. It’s how he survives the death of his wife Alex and how he finds a beautiful way
When & Where
Jan 12, 2025, 3:00 PM
Historic Temple Theatre of Viroqua, 116 S Main St, Viroqua, WI 54665, USA
About this event
2023
1h 8m
Textile artist Allan Brown spends seven years making a dress by hand, using only the fibre of locally foraged stinging nettles. This is ‘hedgerow couture’, the greenest of slow fashion and also his medicine. It’s how he survives the death of his wife Alex and how he finds a beautiful way to honour her.
'Grasping the Nettle' is at the heart of this story. The challenge of making zero carbon clothing means relearning ancient crafts: foraging, processing, spinning, weaving, cutting and sewing. Making a dress this way becomes devotional and healing.
‘While making the dress over all these years, I felt like I was being transformed by the nettles rather than the other way around,’ says Allan. ‘When Alex was ill and going through chemotherapy, as soon as I began spinning yarn, I felt calmer. It became much more than just a piece of cloth; it's been…