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Floral Couture Blooms for American Flowers Week 2021

The celebration of beauty, seasonality, local agriculture, and sustainable floral design whisks us away on flights of fancy with botanical frocks modeled in dreamy settings
American Flowers Week 2021, design sketch
A sketch of Hillary Alger’s floral couture gown for Johnny’s Selected Seeds in celebration of American Flowers Week 2021. Photo by Kristen Earley, Johnny’s Selected Seeds

The Slow Flowers Society’s seventh annual American Flowers Week, June 28 through July 4, 2021, has captured our imaginations with floral couture created by local flower farmers and sustainability-minded florists across the country.

“By presenting flowers as fashion, photographed with editorial styling to tell a story,” says Debra Prinzing, creator of Slow Flowers as well as American Flowers Week, “(this) campaign shines a light on the talented growers and designers who are part of the Slow Flowers Movement.

“Moreover, it changes what we think of flowers. No longer just a perishable item to capture a sentiment in time, perhaps the flowers, foliage, foraged botanicals, and natural elements you see … will shift and expand your thinking. With flowers transformed as art or sculpture, as fashion and beauty, as a symbol of the human desire to connect with nature, there is much more to each bloom than one might imagine.”

Here, we share our favorite looks created for the event. You can see all 12 botanical creations and read the stories behind them in a special, free digital issue of Slow Flowers Journal. To learn more, visit americanflowersweek.com and follow #Americanflowersweek on social media to see posts from across the American flower community involved in every facet of the industry, from seed to bouquet.

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American Flowers Week 2021, floral couture

Created from Maine-grown annual flowers and foliages and set in a dreamy field of blooms, this zinnia-bedecked look brings one word to our lips—goddess.

Credits

  • Designer: Hillary Alger, Johnny’s Selected Seeds
  • ModelHair/Makeup: Joy Longfellow, Johnny’s Selected Seeds
  • Photography: Kristen Earley, Johnny’s Selected Seeds
  • Location: Johnny’s Trial Gardens, Winslow, Maine
tulip skirt, American Flowers Week 2021

A 1950s Christian Dior–inspired full skirt of tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, pansies, hellebores, and bougainvillea is an absolute dream. 

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American Flowers Week 2021, hellobore dress and crown

We are in hellebore heaven with this avant-garde look! 

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dragonfly dress

Wisconsin-grown native perennials, grasses, annuals, and fruiting berries adorn a dress with an attached cape in the form of a dragonfly. With a spin, it takes flight. 

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American Flowers Week 2021, wood nymph gown

A birch bark bodice skirted with a cascade of golden autumn leaves transports us to a woodland fairytale in central New Hampshire.

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leaf skirt

We had to show you a closer look. The detail in the skirt is swoon-worthy. 

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AFW21, lilac dress

A flattering silhouette for everyday wear meets lush California-grown lilacs from Kilcoyne Lilac Farm.

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Postal Petals founder Talia Boone wearing a regal gown made from California-grown flowers

In L.A., a regal gown combines local love for the Lakers with seasonal California-grown flowers in team colors with red accents. 

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AFW21 floral necklace

Perfect for dressing up a simple crewneck tee or little black dress, this intricate collar boasts botanicals from Washington, Oregon, and California.

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By Terri Robertson

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