Lun-na Menoh is a fashion designer whose clothes often resemble pieces of sculpture and she always incorporates a story into each of her works. This layered net overdress uses appliqué to create a forest in her fairy-tale narrative. The wood is suggested by applied strips of felt with pinked edges topstitched in white cotton and overlapping lengths of green, blue and white rick-rack braid. Additional braid and yellow ribbon inscribed with instructions are visible through the net haze.

This particular ensemble – complete with hat, shoes, violin case and wearing instructions – was conceived as a quest for the wearer, who must follow signs variously applied to the outfit in the hope of finding the missing musical instrument. As Lun-na Menoh’s instructions are self-denying, the instrument can never be found and the wearer is ‘snared in a circular path without escape’.