The Portland Dress

A community-embroidered dress collecting stories from more than 300 people connected to Portland, displayed at Dorset Museum & Art Gallery.

The Portland Dress is a collaborative textile project inspired by Kirstie Macleod's The Red Dress, which visited b-side festival on the Isle of Portland in 2024. Facilitated by textile artists Antje Rook and Sarah Elizabeth, contributions were gathered through free public workshops, home visits, community gatherings and conversations in local venues. More than 300 local people, including men aboard the Bibby Stockholm at Portland Port, added threads to the garment, which echoes the 1978 Portland embroideries and stands as a textile archive of community voices. Commissioned by b-side 2025 and funded by Arts Council England, the display is accompanied by a free Bloomberg Connects audio guide.