The Film:

Yesterday, I had the privilege of going to see the documentary film, The Nettle Dress (2023). It tracks the journey of Allan Brown, a textile artist, who sets an objective to make a dress crafted entirely from nettles, using traditional techniques. Over seven years, he learns how to extract the fibres from the nettles, spin these fibres into yarn, weave it into a piece of cloth (around 25 feet long), and then stitch it into a beautiful Viking-inspired dress.

It is a slow and spiritual process, and one imprinted with the loss of two of the most important people in his life, his wife and his father. Allan speaks about how the project became a very healing experience, as it gave him something to focus on during such a painful period of his life. In many ways, so much of him and his emotions have been woven into the fabric that he has created, forming something that is so unique and utterly invaluable. The dress takes on a deeper meaning and significance that makes it stand out in such a way, that it almost develops a personality of its own. A true labour of love.

Although Allan’s journey is condensed into a documentary of just over an hour in length, it is fascinating to witness the true depth of work that goes into creating this garment, by the hands of just one man. In a world where the majority of fast fashion clothing is produced to keep up with a 52 “micro-seasons” year (a new “collection” every week), I think many of us forget the true wealth of effort that is required at every stage of clothing production. And the reality of that only reinforces how important it is that we not only ensure that clothes are adequately priced to ensure workers are paid sufficiently for their skills, but that they are also made to last, to be kept, to be passed down, and successfully repaired.

Known as ‘hedgerow couture’, The Nettle Dress represents ‘the greenest type of slow fashion’. Ultimately, if we all had to produce our own clothes in the same way, we would all own so much less, and yet likely greatly value each item so much more. Fortunately, we don’t have to commit to making every piece of clothing we want entirely by hand, but that doesn’t mean that we cannot recognise and value the work that goes into the items we purchase. Our modern society can often force us to believe that working harder and faster is the answer to success, and yet in the end that can be overwhelmingly unfulfilling. What if we gave ourselves a chance to slow down? What if we took time to really enjoy each stage of our life, our relationships, and our work, rather than trying to rush from point A to point B? Would we not get so much more out of these experiences, in regards to what we could learn and enjoy? Would we not become more developed as people? And ultimately, would be not be happier in the long run?

Described as a ‘modern-day fairytale’ there is no doubt that The Nettle Dress is filled with magic. Bringing to life the forgotten art of nettle fabric, Allan has used ancient techniques such as spinning and weaving that are well-known recurrent themes in folklore and fairy stories. Within the documentary, he mentions one fairytale that he had come to draw inspiration from throughout his journey. Due to my love of fairytales, I thought I would share it here:

The Wild Swans by Hans Christian Andersen

Once upon a time, there was a King who had eleven sons and one daughter named Elisa. Together, they lived a beautiful life filled with the most exquisite things in the world. Diamond pencils, flawless glass footstools, and magnificent picture books. It was a marvellous time they had, however unfortunately it didn’t last forever. One day, the King married a new Queen who turned out to be terribly cruel and wicked. She sent Elisa away to live in the countryside with some peasants and turned the King away from his own sons by filling his head with falsehoods and made up stories. In telling the Princes to "Fly away like big birds without a voice.", she transforms the eleven brothers into eleven magnificent swans that fly away from the palace and towards the shores of the sea.

Elisa was to return to the palace at the age of fifteen, however as soon as the Queen saw what a beautiful princess she had become, she was filled with jealousy and spite. She attempts to spoil her beauty by telling three toads to squat on various parts of Elisa’s body to turn her ugly, torpid, and evil. However, Elisa’s heart is too innocent and too pure for witchcraft to have any power over her, and so the Queen resorts to staining her skin with walnut stain and tousling her hair so that the King wouldn’t recognise her anymore.

Banished from the palace, Elisa sets her heart upon finding her eleven brothers. After washing in a pool and plaiting her hair, she spends the day wandering deeper and deeper into the forest. She meets and old woman and asks her if she has seen eleven Princes riding through. The lady shakes her head, but confesses that she had seen eleven swans with golden crowns swimming in a nearby river. After being shown where to find them, Elisa makes her way to the bank, where, at sunset, she watches these swans transform into her eleven handsome Princes. Rushing into their arms, overjoyed by their reunion, they tell her of the terrible curse that the Queen had put on them, divulging that they could only stay in their homeland for eleven days a year. When the time comes for them to leave again, they decide to take Elisa with them, carrying her in a net over the sea and to the beautiful and mountainous land where they had made their home.

Although grateful to be with them, Elisa wished so deeply to set her brothers free. In a dream she is visited by a fairy who tells her that in order to break the curse, she must take the nettles that surrounded the cave where they stayed or within a churchyard, crush them into fibres and spin and weave them into eleven long-sleeved shirts, one for each brother. Then she must throw these shirts over the backs of the swans and they will return to their human forms forever. Even if this process took years, from the moment she began, she would not be allowed to utter a single word until the task was complete.

Thankful for the guidance, Elisa set to work. She goes outside and grabs fistfuls of the nasty nettles, that caused terrible blisters to form on her hands and arms. She toiled through the night, and with time seeming to speed quickly, she finished one shirt, and began the second. Alas, she is discovered by the King of the land and his huntsmen, while her brothers are out flying. He falls in love with her beauty and takes her back to his palace to marry her, dressing her in finery, despite her not saying a word. Still committed to her goal, she finds that there are nettles growing in the churchyard and decides to find a way to get there. "Oh, what is the pain in my fingers compared with the anguish I feel in my heart!" she thinks as she tiptoes down there in the moonlight, gathers the nettles and scurries back to the palace, avoiding the Vampires that were feasting on the bodies in the graves

She is seen by the Archbishop, who deduces that their new Queen must be a witch who had seduced the King. He tells the King his concerns during confessional, causing the King’s heart to be filled with suspicion. Each night, he watches Elisa get out of bed and disappear into her private little room. Soon, she had completed ten shirts and was close to achieving her goal. However, she needed more nettles and had to take a trip back to the churchyard. This time she is followed by the King and his Archbishop, who see her and the Vampires and believe that they are working together. Disgusted, they decide to let the people choose what should be done to her, resulting in Elisa being condemned to death by fire.

Led to the dungeons, Elisa is given nothing to wear than the shirts she has woven, and nothing to sleep on but the nettles she had gathered. And yet, she was happy, as it allowed her to continue her work. Suddenly, she hears the rustle of a swan's wings close to her window. Her youngest brother had found her at last. In the early hours before sunrise, the eleven brothers arrived at the palace gates and demanded to see the King. In being told that they could not, they became so rowdy that the King himself came to see what the fuss was about. However, by the time he reached the gates, the brothers had vanished and instead eleven swans were seen flying up above.

Pulled in a decrepit horse cart, Elisa is taken to where she will be burned. Ten shirts lie at her feet and she continues to make the last one, her fingers still twisting the green flax. The mob move in around her attempting to destroy her work, but fortunately the eleven swans fly down and make a ring around the cart. Just as the executioner grabs hold of her arm, she quickly throws the shirts over the swans transforming them back into Princes. Though her youngest brother still had one wing as she hadn’t managed to finish the sleeve of the last shirt.

Now able to speak, she declares her innocence, and the crowd, amazed by what they had just witnessed bow down before her as if she was a Saint. Weak, from the strain and the suffering, she falls into her brother’s arms with nothing more left to give. The wood that had been laid out to burn her takes root and flourishes into a bush of beautiful roses with a single white flower at the top, shining like a star. The King picks it and places it upon Elisa’s breast and she awakens, happy, peaceful, and alive. The church bells begin to ring and with the air filled with birds, they all returned to the palace to live happily ever after.

Read more about the project here:

The Nettle Dress
Directed: Dylan Howitt
Duration: 68 minutes
Release Date: 15th September 2023

Sources:

1. H.C. Andersen Centre- The Wild Swans

Article written: 31/03/24