A crown princess, an international star designer and a workshop for artists both with and without disabilities. This was the recipe for success behind the dress Crown Princess Mette-Marit wore during the official opening of the new National Museum almost three weeks ago. Now the dress will return to the museum. The Crown Princess donates the very special dress to the National Museum, both the museum and the Royal House inform. The dress is made of Norwegian wool, hand-woven at Aurora Verksted and designed by Peter Dundas. Photo: Terje Bendiksby / NTB – It is a fantastic gift. This is a unique piece of Norwegian fashion history, says Karin Hindsbo, director of the National Museum, to news. Norwegian star designer The dress was designed by Norwegian Peter Dundas together with the Crown Princess herself. Peter Dundas has been central to the international fashion industry for many years. He has been chief designer for international luxury fashion houses such as Emilio Pucci and Roberto Cavalli and has designed several dresses for both Crown Princess Mette-Marit and international stars in the past. This dress that Kim Kardashian wore during the Met gala in 2015, is among the Dundas dresses on display at the National Museum now. Photo: LUCAS JACKSON / Reuters At the National Museum, several of the dresses Dundas has designed for Kim Kardashian and Michelle Obama, among others, have already been exhibited. This time he did not just have a royal partner. It was a unique Norwegian team that was behind the now historic dress. Hand-woven at a unique workshop Central to the work of making the Crown Princess’ pink dress is Aurora Verksted in Bærum outside Oslo. The dress is made of Norwegian wool, and the fabric is hand-woven in the workshop. The workshop is a workplace that also offers adapted work for artists with various disabilities. – It is work, but it is without production requirements, for many of our employees are people who need a lot of care for everyday life to go around. But all the work we do must be of high quality, says development manager Trine Dreyer at Aurora Verksted. – It will be sold in the ordinary market to regular customers. That’s a point, it’s about the dignity of older people. Camilla Reinfjell in the process of weaving the fabric that was to become the crown princess’ dress. Photo: Kristi Marie Skrede / news One day the workshop received an unexpected phone call. – Then it was simply like this: “Do you want to take part in a project and weave dress fabric?” Weaving a dress fabric in itself is difficult and demanding. Doing it for the Crown Princess is even more stressful. But for us it was an immediate yes. It’s amazing stuff. Stas for all of us, says Dreyer. Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Peter Dundas met employees at Aurora Verksted when the dress was to be created. Dundas: – Even better than I had hoped for Some time in the same room at the workshop in Bærum, with both weavers, designers and Crown Princess, it was. Otherwise, the collaboration took place via FaceTime. – When the Crown Princess proposed to collaborate with Aurora in the project, I of course said yes immediately. I have always had fun with outfits for the Crown Princess, but this was a slightly different challenge, says Peter Dundas to news. Peter Dundas, who visited Aurora Verksted, is very pleased with the collaboration. Photo: Aurora Verksted – We were not quite sure if it would work in terms of time, but everyone passed with flying colors in line with “couture studios” in Paris, with extra fabric weaving at the last minute. The star designer is very happy with the fabric that was woven and made at the workshop in Bærum. – It was even better than I had hoped for. We incorporated gold threads into the antifouling and tried our hand at the colors of the contrast pattern with the Aurora team a few late nights via FaceTime, says Dundas. – It was the first time for me to work with hand-woven fabric, which is more like embroidery craft for me in how I treat it. Fortunately, Mette is an experienced and passionate weaver and was incredibly helpful throughout the process. Here are parts of the woven fabric that became the crown princess’ dress. Photo: Kristi Marie Skrede / news The Crown Princess herself has become an avid weaver and went to procure a weave for her home at Skaugum during the pandemic. – I think we are all quite proud of the result, Dundas states. Believes the gift is important Now director Karin Hindsbo is looking forward to exhibiting the dress at the National Museum. – A dress department in a museum where you also show what has just been created, what does it add to the National Museum? – The National Museum has a large and completely unique collection of art, crafts, architecture and design, which runs from antiquity to the present day. So we have works that are 1000 years old, and we have works that were literally created yesterday. That’s how it should be in a national museum, says Hindsbo. – In the new museum, costume and textiles will have a different and perhaps more prominent place than we have had before. In this connection, this gift from the Crown Princess is very important to us.
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Crown Princess Mette-Marit donates the dress to the National Museum – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
