When The Devil Wears Prada’s Miranda Priestly issued her withering fashion world put-down: “Florals? For spring? Groundbreaking,” she intimated that the seasonal taking-up of florals is, well, less than imaginative. But this annual ritual is not to be sneered at—it’s what we do. Who can resist those early blooms: the first snowdrops and the first daffodils, pushing up through hard ground, bursting forth with the desire to exist once again after a long winter. Clothing contains the same promise. A fluid midi dress in a wildflower print is a one-way ticket out of the relentless confines of outerwear and central heating, finally. This feeling runs back to the Romans. At Floralia—the spring festival in honor of Flora, goddess of flowers and fertility—white robes were eschewed in favor of bright colors and over-the-top floral displays. Crowds were pelted with flowers in celebration of the new year’s early abundance. And so fashion designers find ways to remake florals anew. Somehow, This story is from Kinfolk Issue Thirty-Five Buy Now Related Stories Arts & Culture Issue 51 Wild Life Ornamental grasses for spring gardens. Arts & Culture Issue 37 Flower Arranging: Miyoko Yasumoto In her Parisian atelier, Miyoko Yasumoto makes an unfrivolous case for floristry. Arts & Culture Issue 37 Mood Bores On the aesthetics of inspiration. Arts & Culture Issue 37 FRESH PRESS An old-fashioned hobby gets a new lick of paint. Arts & Culture Fashion Issue 35 Soft Strokes Fashion often looks to art for inspiration, so why not the other way round? Arts & Culture Issue 28 Bird Grammar Learning the strict, squawky syntax of birdsong.
Arts & Culture Issue 37 Flower Arranging: Miyoko Yasumoto In her Parisian atelier, Miyoko Yasumoto makes an unfrivolous case for floristry.
Arts & Culture Fashion Issue 35 Soft Strokes Fashion often looks to art for inspiration, so why not the other way round?
