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Bedales is delighted to host The Red Dress, a 14-year award-winning global collaborative embroidery project that provides a platform for individuals, particularly women, and communities around the world, many of whom are vulnerable and/or live in poverty, to tell their stories through embroidery.
From 2009 to 2023 pieces of The Red Dress and later the completed garment, travelled the globe being embroidered onto. Constructed out of 87 panels of burgundy silk dupion, the dress has been worked on by 367 women/girls, 11 men/boys and two non binary artists from 51 countries, earning it a place in the Guinness World Records 2025 for the largest collaborative embroidery project. The project speaks of community collaboration, finding voice, inclusivity, empowerment and peace, and has had a significant impact on the embroiderers involved as well as the tens of thousands of audience who have come to see the dress in exhibitions all over the world.
The Red Dress project is led by artist and Old Bedalian Kirstie Macleod.
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