Last night I was invited to The Manor Blooms, a magical floral couture show that blew me away. The couture show was organized by ‘Funny how flowers do that‘ (mooi wat bloemen doen), and the Gardeners. It took place in the Mayer Mansion in the heart of Amsterdam: A gorgeous and mystique location that evokes the feeling of being the estate of an aristocratic person who would host masquerade balls. For one evening the manor was transformed into a floral spectacle by The Wunderkammer and fashion designer Edwin Oudshoorn. Edwin Oudshoorn is known for his fairytale, romantic designs so an obvious choice to create this floral couture show.
Exclusively for ‘Funny how flowers do that’ Edwin Oudshoorn designed vibrant couture creations with his fourteen favourite flowers. The Manor blooms couture show was a tableau vivant, as guests were led through seven different spaces, where the floral embellished fashion was shown by models surrounded by opulent flower arrangements. Starting point was upstairs in the En suite where the chrysanthemum and gladiolus were in the lead. A awe-inspiring picture as the models had an elegant and distinctive penthouse as a backdrop. I loved the copper bathtub, emerald green tiles and vintage steel sinks!
In The Lounge, the hydrangea, aster and Peruvian Lily adorned a high tea spectacle with fashion that harked back to mid-century fashion.
The Downstairs room was red lit and full of floating flamingo flowers. It was beautiful and hard to capture on camera. In fact everything was hard to capture you just had to be there. The fragrances of the flowers added that extra dimension.
In The Barber space Dahlias and African Daisies spruced up a typical 1960s, hairspray kinda show. Jukebox music, and big hair completed the ambiance.
Next was the chapel, a sinister spectacle but oh so brilliant! We were looking at the iconic Bride, one of the haunted mansion’s most enigmatic characters. Loved how the carnations symbolized blood.
In the Monster Hall we were treated to music by ladies dressed in Orchids, Texas bluebells, and Larkspur.
All guests received their favourite flower from these lovely flower ladies.
It was an inspiring and special evening. I loved every bit of it. The Manor Blooms was the official start for the Darling Flower Campaign promoting to not just give a flower but rather pick someone’s favourite flower. What is your favourite flower?
All photos taken with my iPad
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