At the risk of stating the obvious and making Miranda Priestly frown, florals are no strangers to a runway, but real flowers? Now, that’s less common.
At Dolce & Gabbana’s Alta Moda 2026 show, one model carried a bouquet of blue baby’s breath while a matching spray adorned her lovely hair.
Designer Julia Rose’s (apt name!) floral couture was featured in Thursd. magazine a couple years back.
Azelle Chang modeling flower couture by Francoise Weeks. Photo featured in Flora Culture by Christin Geall, Rizzoli International Publications, Inc. 2026.
Creation by Julia Rose.
Cyclamen flowers hung from the ceiling at Dior’s Haute Couture SS26 show.
I’m sure you can imagine the logistical nightmare that comes with trying to work around the material fragility of actual flowers…the storage, coming up with artistic arrangements, the risk of having a design fall apart from mishandling or wilting under hot runway lights, etc…but when flowers appear as part of fashion, what a sight.
Louis Vuitton Men’s SS20 show.
Francoise Weeks is a longtime floral couturier and author based in Portland, Oregon. Amongst other creations, she designed a headpiece and stole with lilies for American Flowers Week. Stunning. I can picture a bride wearing something like this on her wedding day.
Though real flowers might not often be used in fashion for obvious reasons, time and again their likenesses appear on runways as perennial (pun intended) favorites.
Designers and fashion lovers alike never seem to get tired of the flower and its image, and I think that’s because flowers serve as symbols of fresh hope and beautiful beginnings.
They are reminders that perfect beauty can spring up in an imperfect world.
Prabal Gurung SS20
Prabal Gurung SS20
