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What do flowers represent to you? Romance? Beauty? Femininity? Tranquillity? Fragrance? Your nana? Blooms can symbolise all those things and more. Roses conjure up images of vintage teacups, Valentine's Day and romance. Daisies equal summer days making daisy chains, youth and free love. Delicate cherry blossoms represent Japanese charm; lotus flowers are tranquil and spiritual.
With so many meanings, it's no wonder floral prints are having a revival. From small Liberty style sprigs to abstract florals and every flower print in between, decorative florals are more fashionable than ever.
Balenciaga's creative director Nicholas Ghesquiere could well be the reason for all this flower power, with his spring 2008 range for the French fashion house. Generally speaking, where Ghesquiere goes, fashion follows - he's to blame for the glut of collegiate blazers, as well as all those sharp black dresses of late - so when he sent models out wearing ensembles made out of bold pansy, peony, daffodil and anemone prints, the rest of fashion quickly followed suit.
Fashion hadn't paid much attention to the print since the 90s, when teenagers wore Liberty print floral slip dresses under T-shirts and grunge goddesses like Courtney Love wore them with ripped stockings and a bad attitude. But thanks to Ghesquiere, florals were given a noughties makeover. Then British designer Luella Bartley showed a range that featured cutesy floral prints on tiered skirts, PVC rain jackets and sexy strapless dresses, and reminded everyone that there's more than one attitude when it comes to florals.
Flowers soon started blooming everywhere: Dries van Noten put their unique spin on the trend with wild abstract florals, Gucci dropped bold yellow flowers on sexy dresses, and Stella McCartney went for strong painterly print. The British designer told British Vogue that she "didn't want to do a cutesy, girly floral; I knew from day one that I wanted it to be strong, energetic and striking".
Flowers have been blooming locally as well. Karen Walker's pretty and pastel raceday florals from her Lucky range were a hit, and florals appeared in her next range as well, only this time they were bolder and brighter, in pink and orange. Trelise Cooper, the local patron saint of florals and frills, also continued her flowery obsession. At her show at NZ Fashion Week, dresses featured almost every flower print you could think of, and she hammered the theme home with an intricate backdrop of white orchids, roses, freesias and more.
The iconic prints of famed textile designer Celia Birtwell, many of which feature groovy 60s style flowers, have made a major comeback over the last few years as well after she released capsule ranges with British chain store Topshop. Her garments have been the top-selling designer range at the store - even outselling the ever-popular Kate Moss.
The costumes of British actresses Keira Knightly and Sienna Miller in the film The Edge of Love probably helped grow demand for floaty floral tea dresses too: they casually teamed their mumsy floral prints with chunky knit cardigans, woollen socks and gumboots. The result? Pure British eccentricity.
But it's not just fashion that's coming up roses: interiors are being overrun. Flowery prints transform rooms into lush secret gardens and there's now a floral for every interior personality.
Birtwell's flower power print textiles can be used on furniture (visit www.celiabirtwell.com for more information), and Tricia Guild of the Designer's Guild has long been an advocate of floral prints in the home. Guild's latest book, Flowers, is an ode to the flower, in which she shows how to use them to evoke a mood and bring a room to life. She lovingly describes flowers as "pure beauty, pure style".
Possibly the most famous floral textile is Marimekko's Unikko bold floral that is reminiscent of the 1960s.
Local textile designers Mokum looked to the lavish lifestyle of Marie Antoinette as inspiration for their Dauphine textile collection, which features elegant and subtle floral prints.
The art world has long had a love for flowers and florals as well, from Van Gogh's Sunflowers to Andy Warhol's Flowers and Monet's waterlilies series. Monet was known for his passion for his garden and flowers, once remarking, "My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece".
Irving Penn was as famous for his graphic flower photography as much as his portraits, and David Bailey's stunningly simple floral photographs recently appeared in a spread in British Vogue. Bailey told the magazine, "Flowers are hard to photograph because they're so beautiful to start with. You just don't know what to do with them."
Other artists to be enthralled by the beauty of florals include Bernie Boston, who photographed a young protester in 1967 placing carnations into the rifle barrels of police's guns; and graffiti artist Banksy, who created a subversive image of a youth throwing a bouquet of flowers instead of a grenade.
They are two examples of the calming nature of flowers. Perhaps that's why people are fixated with florals now? In troubled times they help provide a sort of soothing escape. Jeff Koons' Puppy, a 43-foot dog-shaped topiary of flowers, would put a smile on even the most troubled person's face.
Flowers have also slowly made their way into the pantry. Tea is the most obvious example, from lavender tea to rose, jasmine, dandelion and violet. But flowers can also be used in cooking: in North Africa they blend dried damask rose petals with spices; marigolds and violets are added to salads in Europe; and Middle Eastern cooks use rose in jams and drinks. It's said that imbibing rosewater produces happy thoughts.
Of course, pretty florals have always been popular when it comes to beauty and fragrance. But Viktor & Rolf took perfume's penchant for florals one step further in 2004 when they released their Flower Bomb scent, with notes of jasmine, freesia and orchid, among others. They described it as a "floral explosion" - a pretty apt description of the trend in general.
Expect one at Auckland's Alexandra Park from Thursday too, where The Auckland Flower Show takes place.
1 Floral fabric samples, POA, from Allium.
2 Flower hairties, $20 each, from Romantique.
3 Florence Broadhurst book, $85, from Allium.
4 Fringe studio floral tray, $22.90, from Allium.
5 Olivia Morris floral heels, $1014, from Mei Mei.
6 Sandberg wallpaper available from Decortex e famiglia.
7 Romo floral fabric available from Seneca.
8 Rose vintage tea cup and platter, $19.95, from Just Plane Interesting.
9 Painterly floral print cushion, $195, from Allium.
10 Black rose vase, $99, from Redcurrent.
11 Poppy print oven mitt, $19.50, from Redcurrent.
12 Flower print tea cannister, $28.95, from Nest.
13 Rose print box, $16, from Redcurrent.
14 Roger & Gallet Rose water, $69.
15 Flower plate, $120, from Romantique.
