I’m loving the images from the recent Paris Haute Couture fashion shows. Fashion is such an inspiration to me; I think it’s so important to interpret trends and see how they can be translated to floral design. For Fall/Winter, jewel tones are still on trend, with shades of black, white, and grey making a strong appearance. In particular, Chanel incorporated tones of black, white, and grey with lots of texture and embellishment.
When working with monochromatic colors in an arrangement, such as the black, white, and grey tones, it is important group similar colors and textures together to create impact. This can be done by clustering similar colors/flowers together in an individual bouquet, or it can be expanded by grouping several single-color arrangements together to achieve an overall look. For example, one can take a white bouquet, a grey bouquet, and a black bouquet, and group them together to create a sleek ombre design.
Additionally, in the couture shows, attention to detail is critical. Dresses are hand-embellished with intricate embroidery, lace, beading, and feathers. How can this be applied to floral design? Feathers can be incorporated into design like flowers to give interest, bouquets can be wrapped with gorgeous ribbon, and ribbon/fabric/lace/beading can be applied to containers to create a complete, couture floral design. I also like the unexpected vine that gives interest or special detail flowers/foliage that frame a composition.
Floral detailing continues in haute couture, and I found beautiful images from the Giambattista Valli couture collection. Enjoy and be inspired!
vogue.co.uk
