Evidence Dress

This life-size dress is constructed of various hand-written vintage papers that have been sewn together by hand and machine: correspondence, school notebook pages, ledgers, even bank checks. The tiered, pleated skirt and the bodice, collar, and belt were constructed from hand-drawn patterns. The piece honors the beauty and distinctiveness of handwriting, from elegant 19th century pen-and-ink flourishes to the children’s pencil scrawls.

The digital age has given us tremendous benefits, but also has taken much away, including the need and desire to leave tangible evidence of our lives. We used to recognize our friends’ and family’s handwriting, but no more. We used to doodle in notepads, but that’s been replaced with scrolling. Evidence Dress is made up of vintage ledger and school notebook pages, hand-written letters, envelopes, and even bank checks. Likely the original writers had no idea that something as seemingly mundane as handwriting would one day be revered enough to be considered art.