Miranda Moen

Miranda wears the gamle Valdresbunaden, the folk costume of the Valdres valley in Norway, created in 1914. The base dress is dark blue wool with colored embroidery. The hat is handcrafted. The silver brooches were made by silversmiths in Valdres, which has a long silversmithing tradition. A bunad is built up over time or handed down in a family, so no two are the same.

Miranda's ancestors farmed in the Valdres valley before they emigrated in the 1870s. On her Fulbright project in 2021 and 2022 she visited those farms. In her words, walking that land was a spiritual experience.

The bunad ties her to those people, 150 years and an ocean away.

MIRANDA MOEN · GAMLE VALDRESBUNADEN (THE OLD VALDRES FOLK COSTUME), VALDRES VALLEY, NORWAY · MINNESOTA · ARCHIVE NOTE, 2026