Boutonnière On-Trend
By Jill Brooke, FlowerPowerDaily.com
When The New York Times announced that flower brooches pinned on men’s lapels were becoming a fashion trend, many florists around the country shook their heads and thought, “We saw this coming.”
After all, there has been such an uptick with men becoming more involved with wedding florals and a desire to personalize their boutonnières.
Among recent requests, Carrie Struble, the creative force behind The Flower Diva, in Pineville, N.C., had a father of the groom wanting a boutonnière with his Florida State alma mater painted on a rose – which she hand painted.
“And another client wanted his favorite superhero be part of his boutonnière as well as for all the groomsmen,” she recalls. “All had different superheros. Men are much more interested in flowers and design now.”
We saw it first when men’s style evolved from the beer-soaked Hawaiian floral shirts to other parts of the wardrobe with men
wearing floral motifs of roses, carnations and lilies on ties, even at starchily conservative industries such as Wall Street and accounting firms.
Then the popularity of florals on open-collar shirts popularized by designers like Robert Graham and worn prominently on shows like Modern Family by the character Cam – as well by rock stars on magazine covers spilled over to suburban dads who enjoyed wearing a piece of the garden.
But then again, florists weren’t surprised by that trend either because florals, as we know, make people happy. These shirts added bursts of color to a traditionally drab palette between gray, blue and tan and planted some style while men wear neutral colors as pants.
Now it seems that florals are making their way into jewelry design and revitalizing thinking about
boutonnières. As jewelry historian Marion Fasel told the Times, it’s “men who are in charge of making brooches cools again,” noting how “Regé-Jean Page from “Bridgerton” showed up on Saturday Night Live recently wearing an Alexander McQueen suit that came with three pearl brooches sewn onto the lapel. Jared Leto chose a huge, corsage-y Gucci brooch at the Golden Globes, where Anthony Anderson went for a Chopard flower.”
Furthermore, millennials and Gen Zers are seeking integrity in what they wear and flowers fall into this category of natural and recyclable.
“When we look back at Elizabethan times, men were just as adorned as the women were, as jewelry symbolized fashion, status and identity,” notes Carol Woolton, the jewelry editor of British Vogue. “Men are eager return to their historic love of jewels with bespoke floral gemstone brooches pinned in lapels and collars.
And in these days of equality, they’re as likely to sport fresh flowers, too, in the manner of a corsage – the term originally referred to the bodice of a dress, where women have pinned small bouquets or nosegays to clothing as far back as Ancient Greece. After a long period of men being afraid to express their personalities, they are becoming more experimental.”
Anthony Chillemi, of Bedford Village Flower Shoppe , in Bedford, N.Y. shares that viewpoint that florals are no longer limited to being a female flourish.
“It’s no longer considered feminine and instead a natural beautiful way to dress things up and make it nicer,” he says. “Even at casual weddings, including mine, the men didn’t wear suits, but we had them wearing boutonnières on their pants pocket.”
Some florists say that this trend may help other men consider dressing up at formal events with a flower flourish in their lapel or pants pocket.
Theresa Colucci, AIFD, CFD, PFCI, of Meadowscent in Gardiner, N.Y., says perhaps a seed is being planted. “I had a guy attending a wedding and wanted a boutonnière to add style,” she says. “Boutonnières are no longer just for the wedding party.”
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