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This week, the European Parliament in Brussels suddenly looks a lot more colourful. This is thanks to the 16 meter long ‘Rainbow Dress’, designed and made in Amsterdam from the flags of 75 countries (all outside the EU) where homosexuality is still punishable in 2018. ALDE Group First Vice-President Sophie in ‘t Veld took the initiative to host the dress in the Parliament as a special way to celebrate the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOTB, May 17).

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Amsterdam Dainbow Dress displayed at SF City Hall

San Francisco’s City Hall sees a parade of weddings every day, but it wasn’t a wedding dress that turned heads Monday morning.

The colorful dress measures 52 feet in diameter. It is made of the flags of 75 countries where homosexuality is a crime.

The dress was created by artists from Amsterdam. The flags were carried in a parade during last year’s Euro Pride Day.

“The dress is visually appealing to people. I know a lot of people are taking pictures and it sort of lowers the threshold to ask questions what it is about. And that is the beginning of the awareness that we want to spread,” Amsterdam rainbow dress creator Jochem Kaan said.

The creators of the dress say if a country stops penalizing homosexuality, they’ll remove that country’s flag and replace it with a rainbow flag.

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The quartet of nimble-fingered designers unstitched the dress. One loop after another they loosened the threads, separating from the rest of the piece a rectangular blue cotton fabric. It had red borders on the top and bottom. Emblazoned in the center is a crest: a ring of leaves encircling two men, one light and one dark-skinned. They each propped a tool on their shoulders: an axe and a paddle. Jostled under their feet are the words SUB UMBRA FLOREO. It’s Latin for, “Under the shade I flourish.” It’s the flag of Belize. And they’ve just removed it from the dress made from an ensemble of 72 flags.

The four designers created the dress as a statement against discrimination of the LGBTQI community. The bodice (the top of the dress) is the Amsterdam city flag. The bottom of the dress comprises flags from 72 countries that outlaw homosexuality or homosexual acts. At its full width, the dress measures 16 meters (52 feet) in diameter.

On 10 August, 2016, the Supreme Court of Belize, in a radical departure from a dated draconian law, decriminalized homosexuality. The dress had no place for Belize anymore. So, they replaced it with a rainbow flag.

“It’s such good news that we have to replace the Belize flag,” said one of the designers, 36-year-old Mattijs van Bergen.

According to the quartet, the dress represents Amsterdam’s centuries-old role as the shelter city for LGBT refugees persecuted in their own countries. The, now, 71 flags seek sanctuary under the shade of the Amsterdam city flag. SUB UMBRA FLOREO.

The dress, which made its first public appearance on 5 August, 2016, at Amsterdam’s inaugural LGBT Freedom Ceremony, was modeled by Valentijn de Hingh. The 26-year-old Dutch transgender model was the befitting personification of the dress. Her success as a transgender model bookended the designers’ message.

The four tight-knit designers — Mattijs van Bergen, Arnout van Krimpen, Jochem Kaan, and Oeri van Woezik — are all artists by trade. Their familiarity with each other was as equally pivotal as their crafty hands. The whole project, according to Mattijs, took just under a week to complete.

“The Amsterdam Rainbow Dress came about quite fluidly, despite it being a very intensive project,” said 37-year-old digital creative director, Jochem, “The cooperation between us four is a dream come true, as we are all close friends and dedicated to the message we are sending out.”

In countries like Libya, Somalia, and Iran, homosexuality is punishable by death — with some countries exacting death by stoning. For others, like Malaysia, Egypt, and Barbados, it’s imprisonment.

On top of that, the dress also bestows a voice to the belittled and the bullied. In some countries, even ones void of discriminating laws, deviant individuals are psychologically castrated by societal norms. Their voices are drowned out by boisterous conservative chatter inherited from generations before them.

The Netherlands — where the four designers were born and raised — is considered to be one of the most progressive in the world when it comes to LGBT rights. In 1987, they erected the world’s first monument to commemorate homosexuals who were persecuted and killed during World War II.

“We also became the first country to legalize gay marriage in 2001. The progressiveness of the Netherlands needs no embellishments,” said 44-year-old sculptural and spatial artist Oeri.

That notwithstanding, discrimination, like pests, is resilient. It slips through cracks.

“Coming out for anyone is difficult. Coming to terms with one’s sexuality is not easy. In secondary school, I was bullied for being gay until I came out. As soon as I came out, I had nothing to hide anymore, and so I had nothing to be bullied about,” said Mattijs, who grew up in Beuningen, a small village in the Netherlands.

“From that time, I became a much stronger person,” he said.

And that’s what the dress represents. At least, it’s one of the things it represents — overcoming discrimination. But the reasons behind this dress are manifold.

“Our project seeks to raise awareness on several levels; on the vast challenges that LGBTQI-refugees have to deal with on a daily basis, on the fact that over a third of the world’s countries still have active anti-LGBT legislation in some form or another,” said 47-year-old art teacher Arnout.

Even though the designers have since replaced the Belize flag on the dress, 71 countries remain etched on the train; bound together by the common thread of discrimination and dyed in persecution.

“We hope that the dress will help to change the law in more countries so that eventually we’ll be able to turn it into a dress made completely out of rainbow flags,” said Mattijs.

Since the introduction of the dress, a huge conversation has erupted on social media. Additionally, it’s garnered attention from international media, from BuzzFeed, to Vogue, to CTV News, to The Guardian. Even countries whose flags are depicted on the dress took notice: Malaysia, and India.

The message is working. It’s growing. Sweeping across nations with the impetus of a raging wildfire.

And it is their hope that the dress would help rescind the laws in the 71 countries; like a game of a more colorful Reversi, flipping each flag in succession.

One down, 71 to go.

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Image by Pieter Henket.

This dress has an important message.

When celebrations of Pride are taking place around the UK, it’s easy to forget – just for a moment – that there are still so many places where people aren’t free to be gay.

So let this dress remind us of all the work that still needs to be done.

As part of this year’s Europride, designer Matjis van Bergen and artist Oeri van Woezik created a rainbow bright dress made with the flags of the 72 countries in which homosexuality is still banned.

They chose Valentijn de Hingh – the first transgender woman to be signed by IMG models and Europride’s first trans ambassador – to model the dress, in an incredible portrait captured by photographer Pieter Henket.

That portrait has now been shared thousands of times. Clearly it fulfilling its mission of showing everyone just how far we still have to go.

But the dress isn’t complete. It’s not going to live on forever as a reminder of all the intolerance in the world.

Valentijn says that each country that changes its legislation on homosexuality will have their flag in the dress changed to a rainbow flag.

The ultimate goal? An entirely rainbow dress.

So come on, world. Let’s hurry up and change things.

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