self
Something Borrowed WRITTEN BY Kathryn van Roosendaal
It started with a beautiful red strapless ball gown and one woman’s desire to have it. Jenny Lawson – blogger for The Houston Chronicle and author of “Let’s Pretend This Never Happened” due out this year – saw a dress her artist friend had made and she wanted it. She really, really, really wanted it. Of course, like all of us, she rationalized why she didn’t need it: She had nowhere to wear it, she didn’t have shoes, and it just wasn’t practical. After all, who really needs a red ball gown?
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“Because when you start to think that your dreams are wasteful, that’s a sign that you need to go after them before they run away forever.” Joy Is Always Worth It “So often we deprive ourselves of the silly things because they’re frivolous or ridiculous, but it’s those very things that we remember as golden moments in our lives,” says Lawson.
Then Lawson did something truly amazing: She didn’t keep the dress. That amazing red ball gown isn’t hanging in her closet waiting for another day when she needs to feel pretty. Instead, she sent it to a friend. That friend had photos taken in the dress, then she sent it on again.
In May of 2010, she decided she really did need that red dress. So she got it: A strapless red ball gown made by her friend Sunny Haralson of Rubypearl. She still didn’t have anywhere to wear it, but she didn’t let that stop her. She called a photographer friend, Karen Walrond, to meet her in a graveyard and she had photos of herself taken posing, prancing and twirling barefoot on the grass. Then she wrote about it in her blog, sharing her experience with the world.
And the Traveling Red Dress was born. Lawson kept her blog updated with stories from women who received the dress. Some took it to dying friends or retirement homes to share and others wore it to celebrate life-changing events. Dozens of women wore the Traveling Red Dress and then sent the magic on. “The Traveling Red Dress is a project about generosity ... both to others and yourself,” says Lawson.
“The Traveling Red Dress. Take one, then pass it on. It’s magical,” says Lawson.
Going Social Two years later, at the beginning of this year, that red dress was getting a bit tattered. So Lawson went back to her blog and sent out a plea for more dresses. Her request targeted companies that made ball gowns or formals in hopes that they would donated a dress or two. The response was overwhelming, but not from the source she was expecting. Initially, no companies donated dresses. Instead, women read the request and raided their own closets or searched local thrift stores to find red dresses. And then they sent them on to others. Within a few days, hundreds of dresses were on the road, spreading the joy. The connections started on Twitter under Lawson’s hashtag “#TravelingRedDress”. But soon there were too many posts to keep up and Lawson started a Flickr account where women could post photos of dresses they had available to send. Soon after, she started a Facebook page where women could post dresses they have to send or a request for a dress for themselves or someone else. All over the Internet, photographers were posting offers for free photo shoots for ladies in red dresses and communities were putting together Red Dress events where women could meet, wear pretty dresses and share their stories. “Now I’m flooded with pictures of people in their red dresses and people who want to donate red dresses and stories of victory that can’t NOT be shared,” she says. Lawson herself recently revisited the Traveling Red Dress for herself with a new photo shoot in a new red dress. That dress and eight others are now in circulation as well. And she got a response from two formal gown companies wanting to donate, one of which wants to give the actual runway dresses from their next show. And it just keeps growing. The Traveling Red Dress Facebook page now has more than 5,100 followers and the Twitter hashtag is in constant use. Requests and offers are coming in from across the United States and in the UK, Australia and even Columbia. left: Jenny Lawson poses in the original Traveling Red Dress created by Sunny Haralson. Photo taken by Karen Walrond.
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THE ARTS ISSUE 2012
left: Jessica Larsen poses in her Traveling Red Dress in Snoqualmie, Washington. The dress was then sent on to Michelle Sneller. Photo taken by Beth Larsen.
Beyond The Dress The Traveling Red Dress isn’t always red, and it isn’t always a dress. Says Lawson: “The red dress often isn’t a red dress. Sometimes it’s flying lessons or a hat. Or spending a workday at the park. … Things like cartwheels and learning how to box and painting encouraging words on your body to remind yourself that you’re worth it.” “For men (and women) complaining that a red ball gown isn’t quite for them, The Traveling Red Dress is anything needful you want,” she says. One woman posted about buying some bright teal jeans she’s been wanting. Another wears a red scarf everywhere she goes. For some it is dying their hair a vivid color or wearing a blinged pair of coveralls. Janine Rose, a Traveling Red Dress participant from the UK, put it beautifully: “It’s about putting on something you only normally dream about and taking a photo of you feeling beautiful. It’s your moment to escape.” But more than anything else, The Traveling Red Dress is about women helping women to feel beautiful and alive. It is about people sharing joy with perfect strangers and growing relationships in the global community. “There’s something fairly magical about this whole project,” says Lawson. “It started as one simply un-simple dress and grew into a web of women sending other women shining red dresses as a way to say ‘I see you. I recognize where you are and what you’ve done.’ It gives me such faith in humanity.”
Interested in More Information? The Traveling Red Dress Facebook page can be found at www.facebook.com/pages/The-Traveling-RedDress/150889871693313 or simply by searching “The Traveling Red Dress” under pages Updates on The Traveling Red Dress can be found on Twitter by following #TravelingRedDress
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