Flowers are perhaps spring’s biggest symbol, and for fashion designers, it often means slapping a couple of floral prints onto their collections to channel the season’s blooming feeling. But spring 2023‘s floral details are looking a tad more complex, with 3D flowers making their way from our gardens to the red carpet and beyond.
Take, for example, Nicole Kidman, who sported a black sequined Armani Privé gown featuring two oversized rosettes at the 2023 Academy Awards. While Zendaya wore a light pink Valentino gown with small rosettes cascading from the hips to the train at the SAG Awards. Other celebrities like Winnie Harlow, who wore a rose-colored gown with giant flowers on the cuffs from Giambattista Valli Couture, and Iris Apatow, who stepped out in a copper, sequinned dress adorned with 3D flowers by Colin LoCascio, endorsed the trend at the Vanity Fair Oscars Party earlier this month.
By now, I’m sure you’re quoting a certain stern, fictional editor-in-chief of Runway, and I get it. Flowers for spring are not groundbreaking. But 3D flowers are, and if celeb sightings are not enough, the spring 2023 runways are sure to convince you.
Throughout the collections, bodies seemed to blend with nature, and vice versa. Loewe, for example, showed a slew of tops and dresses featuring life-like anthurium flowers in red, white, and green shades. The centerpiece of one dress was a giant anthurium flower bodice, while another put a spin on the strapless silhouette with two anthuriums as nipple covers. New York-based label Collina Strada opted for abstract roses on bralettes, while Jason Rembert’s Aliétte went for a string of rosette details on an A-line green gown. At Markarian, nature grew out of a model via a strap of flowers and leaves strung on the arm, paired with a light blue, strapless midi dress.
While floral embellishments are nothing new, designers have made an effort to go past the wedding-ready appliqués all the way to avant garde propositions. And thankfully, the statement-making styles are easy to wear. Take a cue from Loewe, where the eye-catching anthurium flowers were styled with minimal skirts. In a similar vein, model Emily Ratajkowski wore one of the floral Loewe tops with straight-leg trousers to the brand’s show earlier this month. But if the “Weird Girl” aesthetic is your thing, Collina Strada offers an alternative: go for bold flower-shaped bralettes, layering printed dresses and blue jeans underneath. There’s also the option to go full Poison Ivy (or rather, Poison Rose?) like Markarian, using craft store flower strings as accessories.
Whatever the style, make it groundbreaking. Or, just let the flowers do the work for you.
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