The gown of gold spun by a million spiders that revives a lost tradition



With its dazzling colour and intricate embroidery, this golden cape is a work of art.

But look a little closer and, sewn into the cloth itself, you’ll see its rather spine-tingling secret – it is made from spider silk. In fact, the silk of more than a million spiders.

The precious garment was painstakingly woven over four years with silk collected from female Golden Orb Weaver spiders, found in the mountains of Madagascar.

Made from the silk of more than a million spiders a unique cape will be displayed at London's V&A Museum

Adorned with images of the two-inch spider, the garment is the only one of its kind in the world, and will go on display tomorrow at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

The cape takes its colour from the silk itself, which is naturally golden. It was created by Englishman Simon Peers using a process revived from more than a century ago.

Each day workers collected thousands of Golden Orbs. Their silk was extracted using a hand-powered machine which allowed handlers to pull strands from each creature’s multiple spinnerets, before they were released back into the wild.

Commenting on the exhibition Mr Peers said: 'We were keen to show the spider silk textiles at the V&A, being the most appropriate place to premiere this work in Europe.

'As far as we know the V&A has never before shown anything made from spider silk, despite its diverse collections of art and decorative arts.

Unique design: The woven textile, which is naturally golden in colour, measures four metres long

Each morning a team would scour the highlands of Madagascar for female Golden Orb spiders

'So we are pleased and very proud to be adding a first to a museum with such a rich, long and illustrious history, and would like to think that we in turn can be an inspiration to others.'

The Spider Silk textile was first shown at the Natural History Museum in New York in 2009 where it broke all records for visitor numbers to a single exhibit.

There have been very few experiments with spider silk and no serious attempts to weave with the material since 1900.

Spectacular surroundings: Model Bianca Gavrilas poses in the V&A's Medieval and Renaissance Gallery

Frenchman, Francois-Xavier Bon de Saint Hilaire, first illustrated how fabric could be spun from spider silk in 1709.

He boiled cocoons, extracting the threads with combs to make socks, gloves and supposedly a full suit of clothes for King Louis XIV.

The last known spider silk textile was created at the end of the 19th century for the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1900 but no examples remain.

The new piece has been created in the form of a cape, decorated with intricate embroidery and appliquéd motifs.