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Graduating with Floral Pizzazz
Graduation is just around the corner for many students |
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Written by Karen Hall
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Graduating with Floral Pizzazz
Graduation is just around the corner for many students, but because Generation Y consumers prefer exciting and different when it comes to the flowers they want to wear, florists are being challenged to use pizzazz in their floral creations.
This is according to J. Paul Jaras, AIFD, creative director and owner of Flourish by Design in Calgary, Alta., who adds that, although corsages and boutonnieres are still popular, the trend is going towards floral jewelry.
“The younger generation is looking for bright colours and fun and exciting things, not the traditional roses on the wrist how they might have been worn even just a few years ago,” he says. “So we’re doing a lot with coloured wire, which is very hot and coming over from Europe. It’s a new trend material that we’re using ... that we fashion bracelets from, for example. It could be a wide bangle or it could be spiraled wire that’s been flattened that we attach beads and flowers to.”
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| Flowers like delphiniums, larkspurs, agapanthus, small spray roses and dendrobiums are extremely popular according to J. Paul Jaras, AIFD, creative director and owner of Flourish by Design in Calgary, Alta. |
According to Jaras, although most of the grads this year still want to wear the flowers on their wrists, the ones who are more fashion-forward might consider wearing a choker or a Cleopatra arm band up high near the bicep.
“We’ve also done a few ankle corsages, which is fun,” he says. “And we’re doing a little bit of floral hair accessories if the girls are going all out and wearing gowns and having updos.”
Jaras has also done shoulder corsages in the past, although they’ve been popular with older crowds, he says.
“But I can sure offer them to grads who are really hip and into something artsy,” he says. “A shoulder corsage is a little bit more for a formal evening function for a more mature person. It is elaborate, decorative and sculptural and sits high on the shoulder and then falls to the back and to the front. There’s a little bit more movement if we’ve got a shoulder to work with, so it might include some thin blades of grass and beads on dangling wires.”
According to Jaras, the first things he made when he got into the floral industry were corsages, and he still really enjoys creating them.
“I love to be creative on a miniature scale,” he says. “Considering them as floral jewelry is right up my alley.”
A lot of small-scale flowers are going to be popular this year, Jaras says.
“So we’re taking tiny flowers off of the main stems of flowers like delphiniums, larkspurs, agapanthus, small spray roses and dendrobiums,” he says. “Those flowers last well. And we use vibrant colours and black accessories.”
Gary Miller, owner of Petals ’N Pots Inc. in Waterloo and Kitchener, Ont., finds that dendrobium orchid corsages and white rose/baby’s breath corsages are the most popular at his shop.
“We certainly do mostly wrist corsages,” he says, “and the main reason is because all the girls are wearing strapless dresses.”
Colleen O’Farrell, owner of Foxgloves Flowers in Victoria, B.C., also says wrist corsages are popular, and adds that they are what 99 per cent of her graduating customers want.
“As for flowers, the grads are going for funky, fun, young and happy,” she says. “And I would say black and white and lots of reds and burgundy are popular this year. The students are very discerning clients.”
But Christine Sawyer, designer at Living Color Flowers and Gifts in Edmonton, Alta., has found that students aren’t interested in wrist corsages this year, and in fact they aren’t even asking her to price them.
“But we’re getting a high demand for magnet corsages because the girls can put them anywhere,” she says. “A lot of girls are going strapless so the corsage sits right on the top of the dress.”
Sawyer adds that many girls are also trying different flowers, such as lisianthus, for example.
“I think things are getting a little more daring,” she says. “Maybe the knowledge base is changing. And there are a lot of requests for pink this year, which is a little different from last year.”
When it comes to the boutonnieres, Sawyer says they aren’t as traditional as they used to be.
“I’ve had a lot of requests for freesia, which is kind of funky,” she says. “Mini gerberas are also popular with the guys and the greens are changing too – they’re just funkier. They’re a lighter green and not so much the traditional dark green. Things have lightened up in colour, for men especially.”
Miller finds that single roses, single stephanotis and dendrobiums are still popular, with white being the most favoured colour choice.
And according to Jaras, just like corsages, boutonnieres can be embellished with wire and beading.
“And we get to do some creative things with looped grasses and berries,” he says. “So we can have some fun with them too.”
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