Couture et Fleurs: Hats in the Garden

Couture fashion and nature collided for the Naples Botanical Garden’s eleventh annual Hats in the Garden celebration. Dubbed “Couture et Fleurs: Runway Fantasies Inspired & Created from Nature,” this year’s runway fashion show took its cues from the garden itself, with six local floral designers creating a wearable botanical collection, comprised of full looks and accessories to accompany ready-to-wear fashion from Saks Fifth Avenue.

   “We wanted to go off the path and do something different this year,” says Rufino Hernandez, owner of Garden District, one of the six couture floral-fashion designers and 2014 Hats in the Garden creative director.

   Taking a page from Garfield Conservatory’s annual Fleurotica in Chicago, designers were tasked to create gowns and dresses using at least 80 percent of something that is growing or had been growing (that is, dried material). What they came up with was nothing short of astounding. With spring as an unofficial theme, bright and brash flowers, bold green leaves, and soft earthy mosses, succulents and epiphytes were glued, sewn and pinned together for amazing wearable art adorning models who walked down the runway. While each look differed, all the designers had one thing in common: this was the first time any had created a wearable floral design.

Below, we caught up with the designers of these beautiful botanical works for their take on vision, inspiration and surprises that arose while creating their wearable floral looks. Click on the thumbnails for more.

Models preparing for the runway.

Photo by Wilkinson Photography

Backstage.

Photo by Wilkinson Photography

Models backstage.