Fleurs De Villes ARTISTE Show
We were so honored to have participated in Fleurs De Villes ARTISTE fresh floral exhibition show in Hudson Yards NYC!
Fleurs de Villes is an international luxury experiential brand that creates bespoke floral events with top local floral designers to showcase each city’s world class talent and create stunning displays of art. In October 2024, we were thrilled to have been able to design a piece for their visionary show ARTISTE, which celebrated different genres of the Arts such as painting, theatre, fashion, and cooking. The 10-day floral show featured fresh floral mannequins inspired by accomplished artists integral to cultural organizations and New York City's vibrant art scene. We worked alongside some of New York’s most talented local florists and were inspired by the creativity and ingenuity of the teams around us.
The exciting energy of designing overnight after the mall closed was undeniable as teams ran around cutting chicken wire frames, frantically stitched pampas leaves together, and wove bunches upon bunches of baby’s breath together to bring their visions to life. It was such a wonderful experience to be creating beautiful works of art together in such an energetic atmosphere.
Our specific brief was to create a mannequin that celebrated a piece of literature. As a team we immediately gravitated towards The influential work of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Inspired by the style and design of the 1920s Art Deco movement, flamboyant flapper wardrobes, and opulent glitz & glamour that marked the era, we knew we wanted to bring Daisy Buchanon’s character to life on our mannequin.
Daisy is a very quintessential reflection of the style and spirit of the 1920s in New York accentuating extravagant dreams of beauty, money, and status. We chose to situate Daisy in Gatsby’s lush lavish garden and include a creative take on ‘the green light at the end of the dock’ with a moss lantern holding a green light shining through orchid petals.
We hoped to capture the essence of the 1920s fashion and art deco design style predominately in our detailing, with her intricate corset design made out of dried silver money petals and Lunaria seeds. We utilized layered petals on her skirt to keep her dress form fitting at the top. Her hair is also completely composed of organic material which we stitched together and styled into her iconic bob. We also had to have fun accessorizing Daisy, of course! It was a tricky yet fun challenge to create them using only natural materials.
For her main dress we created a tiered structure that held oasis foam as the base for our floral skirt to take shape. We used oasis because most of our design was composed entirely of fresh flowers which needed a water source to last 10 days (with minor refreshing)! This flared part of the skirt was made from an ombré variety of pink, mauve, and purple roses, carnations, cremons and alstroemeria. The lush garden is composed of many more fresh elements such as snapdragon, delphinium, scabiosa, orchids, and monstera leaves. We also used a whole stick structure to elevate the garden in a very real and immersive way, draping it with knotted vines, earthy hydrangeas and textural greens such as jasmine vine.
We had so much fun stretching our creative muscles in this design challenge, it was so rewarding to watch our hard work as a team come to life! We were honored to have won the ‘Best in Show, the ‘Florist Favorite,’ and the ‘Fan Favorite’ awards for Miss Daisy. However, we just loved the experience and were happy just to be working alongside so many incredible local florists!
Check out our instagram page for a timelapse of our design process! And follow along with Fleurs de Villes for more events like this one!
You can also read some more about this event and see the other gorgeous mannequins at: https://flowerpowerdaily.com/check-out-fleurs-de-villes-15-awesome-flower-sculptures/
