Fleur de Villes Chicago
We were asked to participate in the exciting Chicago return of the Fleurs de Villes exhibition FEMMES. If you’re unfamiliar with Fleur de Villes, they are a company that travels around North America connecting with local florists and vendors “to showcase that city’s world-class talent and create stunning displays of art.” As a part of their FEMMES series, each florist was assigned a famous woman from history and asked to recreate them entirely out of flowers.
We were assigned the Mongolian mother of the first Emperor of the Qing Empire, Empress Xioazhuangwen. She had a significant influence in the imperial court and was respected as an insightful and politically stabilizing figure during the Con Manchu rule. We were excited to receive such a powerful historical figure and even more excited to bring her intricate royal attire to life.
Hedonia's owner, Christen, designed the concept around the Chinese dragon symbol featured on the Empress' robes. She even included a floral dragon by her side because, after all, every royal needs a royal pet! The intricate bodice design was made of different shades of dried yarrow for the torso and rose petals for the cape. The design was brought to life by our studio assistant, Hannah, a recent SAIC graduate who specializes in textile art. While she had never worked with dried flowers before, she put that art degree to good work! The bodice took several days to construct (almost thirty hours!), but the finished product was well worth the effort. It's the anchor of the design and brings our Empress to life. And, frankly, it's real damn impressive!
The skirt was assembled with burgundy, orange, and cherry brandy roses to give it a full, lush feeling and peach cremones and spray mums for texture. We also added hypericum and thistle to match her accessories and dried yarrow to tie the skirt in with the bodice. The coral inlay in the front of the dress was fashioned out of dried cocculus woven into a "fabric" like pattern meant to evoke both dragon scales and armor. The dried cocculus can also be found on the arms of our Empress, along with some tobacco leaves, to complete the warrior feel.
The structure of our dragon (who we've affectionately been calling Slinky) was constructed using copper tubes, chicken wire, and floral oasis. The underbelly of the dragon is made of a similar cocculus fabric piece as the skirt, while the body is comprised of orange carnations and yellow roses. His head was crafted using cosplay foam and was similarly constructed using dried yarrow and rose petals. Bird's nest ferns and calathea leaves were used for his fins and his tail, giving him a playful sense of movement. And his claws? Well, that's the best part! The structure was made from craft foam and tampons and was covered with dried yarrow, billy balls, and Kentucky coffee pods. Now that's creativity!
We had such a fun time bringing Empress Xioazhuangwen to life. It stretched our creative muscles and won us best in show! Thanks to Fleurs de Villes for including us in this year's exhibition. It was such an honor to be included with some of the top florists in Chicago. (Seriously, do yourself a favor and check out the other designs. You won't be disappointed!) And thank you to everyone who visited 900 N. Michigan and tagged us in all your social media posts. We're glad our Empress could brighten your day, and we know Slinky enjoyed the company!
