Flowergirling
Kew Gardens, William Morris, Lavender Green, and even Dior is joining me
Inevitably, life is quite flowery right now. Spring is finally springing, and it would be a true shame to push against the *groundbreaking* florals that appear as the season comes to bloom (and a true shame not to quote Miranda Priestly as you embrace it). Working for Country Life, I am constantly surrounded by incredible gardens, growers, farmers, homes, interiors and all of the flora and fauna that come with them. Week in, week out, I am learning something new, and banking everything I can for my future home and for curating the world we live in. The past few months I have been fashion shooting, press eventing and endlessly shopping my way into the Spring. I’ve even eaten flowers this week, thanks to some incredible canapes devoured as I arranged florals and sipped English sparkling wine at Lavender Green in London. I’ve been overly excited on every occasion, hence the title ‘flowergirling’, as opposed to fangirling.
It was the end of February when I had the pleasure of assisting the Country Life luxury editor on a fashion shoot at Kew Gardens. The amount of editorials and photoshoots taken at Kew Gardens is innumerable, and so many of them you will recognise without realising where they were taken. I was so excited to be asked to help on the shoot, and SO excited to head to the infamous gardens to do it. Not only was I infatuated with beautiful shoes, clothes and jewels, I got to learn more about how a shoot goes from idea, to production, to publication, and got to learn a tiny bit about a tiny portion of the plants that call Kew Gardens ‘home’. It was an early start as we had to get in before the throngs of people entered the green-filled halls, and so it was straight in to hair and make-up, prepping the clothes and deciding which pieces would feature with which, and which location would show them off best. The rail consisted of tulle from Huishan Zhang, couture from Dior and elegance from Erdem, to name but a few. And, of course, there were shoes. Lots and lots of beautiful shoes, with our blessed Manolos taking centre stage through it all.
It was so incredible to see each person doing their job naturally and so passionately. The stylist just knew which pieces should be worn and how, the photographer gave direction and snapped at just the right time, and the leaves and trees all did their glorious things without us needing (or being allowed) to touch them. These are living, precious things, guys! I was obsessed with the colours against the greens, and I hope to attend more shoots, to learn more and to build on my own artistic direction so that one day, I will be in the drivers seat. As you can sense, I was inspired to no end.
My second floral engagement was a press event with Spode x Portmeirion x William Morris & Co., held at a beautiful house just round the corner from where I live. I was introduced to a new Sara Miller collection, exposed to the eccentricities of the Creatures of Curiosity collection, but it was the Morris & Co. new collection that stole my heart. It builds on the unashamedly well-known heritage prints, but in softer tones, combining sage, peach, sky blue and lemon yellow. It is created for layering, and gives off a maximalist feel without being brash or overwhelming. The collection isn’t available yet, but come May, people will be falling over their feet for a piece of this heritage - including me.
Last week, I went to the press preview of the Lavender Green immersive experience which included a sneak peak of the huge installation they have planned for their shop in May, a flower workshop session with some of their experts, and some gorgeous Gusbourne English sparkling wine to drink whilst I did it. The store is a gorgeous little treasure trove of flowers at the best of times, but the installation in May is going to transform the entire shop, courtyard and all, into a 4D olfactory, visual, physical wonderland of florals. They are going to be championing British wildflowers, local and sustainably grown flowers, shrubs, trees, fauna, nature and even promise birdsong to sing you through the experience. It is a ticketed event and I’ve linked everything you need to know here, and their instagram page here.
The second image above is my little creation. It isn’t on par with the Lavender Green professionals, nor the gardens of Country Life, but I have a soft spot for my first ever flower arrangement nonetheless. Finally, I am linking what I think will be my final post on my Wix site, as I want to spend more time building my Substack. I will be including shopping edits, what I’ve been wearing and the pieces/releases that have caught my eye here and by email instead. It will take some time to figure out the layout, but time means improvement and I want to dedicate my time to doing so. Here is my Spring Greens edit and a few others, if you are interested.
And below are a few more florals that have taken my fancy this week.
Dior: The Spring/Summer collection, shot and marketed as a “gardening collection” - perfect for my green fingers and I.
Guerlain: Exceptional fragrance. Each year, Guerlain collaborates to create an artist-led limited edition bottle for their floral fragrance, MUGUET, and the 2023 offering is by Karen Swami, ceramicist of the sublime and les Ateliers Vermont, Haute Couture embroidery house. The bottle is home to a fragrance of jasmine sambac absolute, rose essence and absolute, and described to evoke “the strikingly olfactory illusion of a freshly picked sprig”. The new decor is even more exceptional.
Anthropologie: Tulle sleeves to transform any LBD, and playing on the corsage trend that is well and truly seeping in.
Zara: Flower headband, so you can spread some Spring wherever you go.
Vogue: and THAT Beyonce headband (below)
Happy Easter, happy Spring.
Amie Elizabeth White x