A million blooms

Watch the below video to see how the spectacular floral walls were created for Raf’s Dior debut…

Imagine the scent of those salons – incroyable!

Balenciaga’s new bloom

I cannot wait to get my mitts on Balenciaga’s new scent. Due in November down under, Florabotancia was inspired by creative director Nicholas Ghesquière’s exceptional Spring 2008 RTW collection (and my favourite of his, FYI). He tells Jennifer Weil from WWD that the juice is the smell one would experience when visiting the garden that the flowers from the dresses are from. Weil writes:

“It’s [the fragrance] more narrative, kind of a fantasy,” he said. “So when I thought about the fragrance and the character that would visit that garden, I thought Kristen [Stewart] could be the perfect beauty and the perfect personality to represent that.

Ghesquière said Stewart is full of dualities — gorgeous and boyish — for instance.

He described the Florabotanica flacon as being like a laboratory bottle into which the striped tube can be dipped to cull the botanical garden’s extract. Similarly, the scent’s invented name is meant to have both a scientific and natural ring.”

The parfum is created by Olivier Polge (who I wrote about here for Vogue.com.au) and Jean-Christophe Hérault (who whipped up Comme des Garcçon’s latest juice, Amazingreen). It includes vetiver, amber and caladium-leaf (so it will be similar to my Black Amber Balms), and rose, carnation and mint (which should lighten and brighten it up). Yum!

Now, here’s hoping November comes quickly!

Mark Colle part two

I had a sneaky feeling Raf Simons would invite his florist pal Mark Colle to help him at his premiere show for Dior. And judging by all of the reports (WWD, US Vogue and Style.com) and the front row snaps, their partnership this time exceeded the last.

Instagram pic by Francesca Burns

Here’s Hamish Bowles’ recount of the scene…

“He began with a setting of fairy-tale beauty that evoked Christian Dior’s passion for flowers (he named that debut “New Look” collection for a flower’s corolla), calling on the Antwerp-based florist Mark Colle to decorate a series of five rooms in a stately Parisian hôtel particulier until the walls were solid with blooms, one the intense blue of massed blue delphiniums, others of yellow laburnums, or pink-tinged white orchids, whilst the Christian Dior room was a ravishing symphony of pink and yellow rose, peony, and dahlia blossoms.”

Ahhh, what a sight! And perfume!

Now, here’s hoping we’re all invited to their next collaboration…

Pink Roses

Feeling pretty special. Thanks Shnicks!

OH ALBER!

Carnations aren’t my favourite flower. This isn’t so nice to say, but they’ve always seemed a little… supermarket. Don’t get me wrong, I think they’re pretty, but they’re a bit plain and just, well, stocked everywhere. This picture though, with help from photoshop and le couturier incroyable de Lanvin, makes me want to give them a second chance. And I shall!

Grey petals

To follow up from my previous post…

Oh Raf! I am really looking forward to his first colleciton for Dior this July at the couture shows. Here’s hoping there are a tonne of blooms involved!

Fashionable Flowers

If we’re friends in twitterland or in – gasp! - real life, you’ll know that I’m crazy obsessed with Belgian designer Raf Simons. So much so that I made my boyfriend stay up with me ’til some absurd hour in late Feb to watch the live stream of Raf’s final show for Jil Sander. Like most fashion lovers out there, I thought the show – the clothes, the hair, the makeup, the soundtrack (Mazzy Star people, Mazzy Star!), everything – was perfect. And the icing on the cake was most definitely the six floral arrangements stored in plexiglass cubes on the runway. All were completely wonderful and unique – to me, each seemed to reflect a different season of the year while still complementing the collection. I came across this little interview on AnotherMag.com with Raf’s buddy, Mark Colle, who was the florist for the show. Check it out!

Pics from Style.com

Black Amber Balm

So I’m in love. I had come across Black Amber Balm online a few times over the past couple of years and finally stumbled upon some pots in January while in Byron and I have to admit, I haven’t worn another fragrance since.

They’re solid organic perfumes that only contain a single note such Wild Rose, Wood or Oakmoss. They’re black thanks to a dash of activated coal powder yet go on clear and last allll day long (even after beachtimes). My favourite thing about them though is layering them to create your own unique scent. Most days I slather on Desert Amber then add the slightest touch of Vetiver and I’m ready to go. The scent is really powerful but not overwhelming, and calls to mind that spice in the air when dry heat has penetrated the earth.  Pretty amazing.

L’ecole des fleurs

Anouk shot by Mark Kean for Wonderland Feb/March 2012

“After women, flowers are the most lovely thing God has given the world.” ~ Christian Dior. My gorgeous friend Harrie told me this quote and I couldn’t agree more! Harrie’s fantastic, we met a couple of years ago when we were both interning at Vogue and now she works as a florist and a stylist (I know, jealous much?). Luckily for us Sydney-siders, she’s put her creative skills together and has started a floristry school, L’ecole des fleurs in Kirribilli. Here’s her site, her eight week course teaches you everything you want to know and then some. Might see you there!

The perfect vase

Oh how I wish I had seen these before they all sold out!

Stämpel handmade wooden vases from Mr Kitly in Melbourne.