The story of the dress that was only worn once.

Once there was a young woman, a free spirit at heart. She loved to walk on the beach with her bare feet, she loved to feel the wind in her hair and the rain drops on her skin. She was wandering through a hippie town at the East coast of Australia and she found this enchanting shop called “Tree of Life”. She was looking for something to make her smile. She was dreaming of wearing long, flowing dresses in happy colours. She looked through the shelves and aisles and found a stunning dress. It was simple. it was white. It was so uniquely designed and yet so ordinary. It was made to fit a 6 year old girl. Fortunately, this young woman had a beautiful daughter around that age.
She carefully took the dress off the hanger and walked to the check out.
When she brought the dress home, her daughter was so happy. She marvelled at the dress and touched it and decided that it was too precious to wear just like that. It needed a special occasion. A few months came and went and the gorgeous white dress never left the cupboard.
Finally a large gathering with wonderful people came and the dress had its first outing. The little girl was very careful not to get any dirt on it. But the day went on and the joy of running, climbing and jumping into mud puddles made her forget the preciousness of the dress.
Her mama watched her with a smile on her face as her gorgeous girl expressed her joy in this wild and wonderful way.
When they came home that night and the dress went into the laundry basket, the little girl discovered the mud stains and was very sad. Her mama tried to make her see the beauty and joy and fun in it and told her that it was still the most beautiful dress in the world, now “stained” with some precious memories.
But the little girl was so very sad that it did not dare to wear the beautiful dress again.
It went back into the cupboard on its hanger, every now and then they looked at it and at the precious memories, they touched it and smiled.
One year later, the dress was too small. They gave it away.

The not-so-young-anymore woman became a doll maker and designed this dress in the memory of her little girl’s dress. She could not bear to make it in white, so she added a little colour to it. She even took it out to a photo shoot in an area surrounded by mud. But she made sure the dress would not touch the ground. The design is almost the same even if the colours are different, the way it hangs and flows. It is a perfect dress for twirling.

Now I need to make myself one 🙂