This past week I had the honor of working alongside 16 of Seattle’s talented florists adorning mannequins in botanical fashion for the Fleurs de Villes Exhibition at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show.
The giddy two months prior were filled with floral fashion day dreams, inspiration curation, excel sheets of flower combinations, budgeting, emails, sketches, mock ups, and more day dreams.
I have always been drawn to fashion as a form of art and self expression. I got that from my mother a long time seamstress who taught me about precious textiles like Liberty of London and Pierre Deux, taught me the joy of rifling through racks at yard sales and goodwill for the forgotten gems and who never let a halloween happen without the most bespoke, handmade costume. For much of my middle school carrier my best friend and I had dreamed up our own fashion line, embroidered our jeans and made outfits for the middle school dance out of table cloths. It’s safe to say when the Fleurs de Villes challenge came my way my inner 7th grader was out of her tree.
So where to begin? How could I best express myself as a designer? Ondine means little wave or sea witch in French. A name I chose as a nod to my island roots and love affair with the ocean. Botticelli’s birth of Venus kept surfacing as I sifted through my consciousness for a muse.
Botticelli’s Birth of Venus
Segment of Botticelli’s Primavera
So I created a homage to Botticelli through a modern lens drawing off of “Birth of Venus” and “Primavera.” I wanted to balance contemporary romance with timeless antiquity, large sculptural form with delicate texture, and the earthly with the oceanic. Locally foraged pearlescent lunaria and dried hydrangea grown by my mother-in-law made up her bodice. Braided bismarkia palms gestured a shell at her base and dried Tsunami palms created architectural sleeves echoing that of the shell. Spanish moss and limonium were woven throughout to create romantic delicate texture. Tulips, roses, lisianthus, carnations, and butterfly ranunculus made up the focal flowers. The design was free of foam and bleached flowers, two very environmentally taxing practices used in the floral industry.
Photo: Samantha Smith
The night of install florists came with buckets of blooms, plastic body parts, genius water source contraptions and armatures, and teams of friends and family. It was a long night in which I realized what being a florist really meant: 10% floral designer 30% shleper and 60% magician.
Be sure to check out the other incredible mannequins via the Fleurs de Villes instagram.
Special thanks to the Fleurs de Villes team for orchestrating, the Northwest Flower and Garden Show for having us, Pacific Place Mall and Hendrix Gin for sponsoring us, Washington Floral Service and Mayesh for being our flower partners, and Samantha Smith for the documentation.