Well the sun is out again, and while we had a touch of frost this morning, this afternoon has been absolutely glorious.
Except for the J Crew (and others!) floral trim trends of a couple of years ago - remember when EVERYTHING was either ruffled or had a big flower - I typically avoid the flower prints, since they can be too sweet if you're not careful and when you are short and busty, you can quickly find yourself looking like a rose bowl parade float. Hence the reason I do NOT own the J Crew peony tee of this season, despite absolutely loving it!
Right now, I have almost nothing in a floral motif in my wardrobe except for these lovelies:
The beloved J Crew Giverny dress. Still waiting patiently for someone to get sick of their old skirt or top, but it has been 6 years and people don't seem to get sick of them!
The Nougat London top I bought a few weeks ago, with appliqued flowers, shown here with my pompon pants that scream DAHLIA!
And the recently purchased cafe capris in silk foulard with the tiny floral print:
Not a lot of summer flowery prints for someone who likes flowers so much! This got me to thinking about our love of florals and whether our love of a certain flower sends us in the direction of a certain print?
For example. Love roses or ranunculus?
Then you must source the Giverny print for yourself as well!!
Bearded Irises?
Then walk, don't run to buy the J Crew Collection Silk Pocket Tee (or matching skirt) in Toulouse floral:
Like the riotous good time colour of a gerbera daisy?
Then any of J Crew's punk florals are up your alley!
Like a lovely climbing Clematis?
Well, if you have enough money, by all means, buy Roberto Cavalli's homage at Net-a-Porter:
Except for the J Crew (and others!) floral trim trends of a couple of years ago - remember when EVERYTHING was either ruffled or had a big flower - I typically avoid the flower prints, since they can be too sweet if you're not careful and when you are short and busty, you can quickly find yourself looking like a rose bowl parade float. Hence the reason I do NOT own the J Crew peony tee of this season, despite absolutely loving it!
Right now, I have almost nothing in a floral motif in my wardrobe except for these lovelies:
The beloved J Crew Giverny dress. Still waiting patiently for someone to get sick of their old skirt or top, but it has been 6 years and people don't seem to get sick of them!
The Nougat London top I bought a few weeks ago, with appliqued flowers, shown here with my pompon pants that scream DAHLIA!
And the recently purchased cafe capris in silk foulard with the tiny floral print:
Not a lot of summer flowery prints for someone who likes flowers so much! This got me to thinking about our love of florals and whether our love of a certain flower sends us in the direction of a certain print?
For example. Love roses or ranunculus?
Then you must source the Giverny print for yourself as well!!
Bearded Irises?
Then walk, don't run to buy the J Crew Collection Silk Pocket Tee (or matching skirt) in Toulouse floral:
Then any of J Crew's punk florals are up your alley!
Like a lovely climbing Clematis?
Well, if you have enough money, by all means, buy Roberto Cavalli's homage at Net-a-Porter:
Maybe you like a lovely country cutting garden?
Well, Moschino has a mini dress for you!!
What would I choose? Well, I love Lilies of the Valley, which are just about to bloom here..
So I think I would choose this little number by Dolce & Gabban:
What about you? Do you wear your favourite flowers in the summer or just put them in a nice vase? And if you could have a piece of clothing like your favourite flower, what would it be???
Have a lovely Wednesday and stay safe out there!
Beautiful flowers, Wendy!! I love your old school J Crew dress - stunning!
ReplyDeleteI love flowers, but not on my clothes. I don't think I own a single flowery itemt.... yet!
J Crew's punk floral is probably the only flower print I could wear.
In fact, my dear friend C has sourced me a punk flowral scarf while on a work trip to NYC so I will be losing my floral virginity at the weekend when she returns!
I am, however, developing a daft obsession with that red butterfly print (I think it's called Monarch). I am going to crack and order it, I can tell.
I bought the Monarch Butterfly scarf last week! It is very pretty can goes well with just about anything. I saw the sweater ($278 USD) and is very, very pretty! If only I had that chunk of change laying around, I would but it ASAP! The scarf will suffice, though.
DeleteWendy, not to enable you or anything, but I think that bright poppy background would look so pretty with your hair and complexion! Just saying...hee, hee
*buy* not but....
DeleteHi Ruth - I think you will like that scarf quite a lot and it is time for a little flower power for you! And now butterflies, too! You and Wendy have me thinking about the monarch print. I have no need for the skirt, but a scarf... but wait... I have too many scarves! Darn! I have too much of everything it seems!!!
DeleteI love flower prints, I find I collect them but rarely wear them. Huh. That should stop.
ReplyDeleteThe fabric of the new JC floral print top is very stiff. Pity. Loving that D&G dress.
Fred - I hear you - I often wish that I could simply buy a bolt of the fabric and make a pillow out of it! Maybe next winter I will teach myself to sew! I love the D&G dress as well!
DeleteI stalked and snagged the marie antoinette silk foulard pants! The silk pocket tee is very pretty but for $400, I'd be thinking what if I spill. Love lilies of the valley and wanted some for my wedding bouquet but they were not in season when I got hitched. Don't you think I need that D&G dress for my anniversary, perhaps? But again, what if I spill?
ReplyDeleteMy favorites are Monet florals and that is why I will never give up my Giverny dress, top or skirt. Well ... maybe when I'm 70 ...
Oh I am glad you found the pants Tiffany Rose! Do pass along any styling ideas you have! I was the same - I married in September and no lilies of the valley to be found then! The monet prints are amazing! I will keep trolling ebay and one will eventually show up!
DeleteThe Dolce and Gabbana for me please! It's the perfect FLD
ReplyDelete(floral little dress). I would buy it if it had a more flouncy bottom - I tend to shy away from clothes that don't forgive a huge meal!
I laughed - I thought you said at first "If I had a more flouncy bottom"! and then I reread it and saw I was wrong! Though now I wonder what a flouncy bottom would look like!
Deleteactually you were right the first time around ;P
DeleteI don't have a favorite flower, I like them all. I love florals on clothing but I usually keep it to a small scale floral print. Exception is the peony tee, oh and I ended up with that purple poppy tee too from sale, but those are not an all over print so they're okay on me. The punk floral, the toulouse, and even the giverny prints would probably overwhelm me. Liberty prints are usually a better scale on me. I like the D&G dress above.
ReplyDeletei couldn't wear the peony as it was too big, but I love that print!
DeleteThe giverny was okay on me,, but I hear you on the big prints!
It has to be the right size of flowers for me. Too tiny is bordering on Stepford Wife territory while too large is too much of a statement for me. Jcrew's current floral prints fall in these two categories so I've passed. I'm loving Anthro's floral dresses this year with better fabric too. I have the Giverny halter which gets a lot of wear during the summer.
ReplyDeleteHi Marie - I have to try more on next time I am at Anthro - I don't really know my size and get nervous about ordering! I loved the giverny halter - when we were at Monet's garden in 2008, I actually saw someone wearing it!
DeleteAs you know I have the Giverny dress too, I wore it loads last summer. This year I'm into plain things but I do have a few Liberty dresses hanging up in my closet, I like to wear them around the house in the summer, oh my gosh they are like housedresses aren't they.
ReplyDeleteLilies of the valley are my favourite, they were my wedding flower and I have a huge patch of them in my garden, they've been blooming for a week. I might cut some today for the house, we've just had huge rain and storms all night, heading out to the garden this morning to check on my seedlings.
No Dani, Liberty dresses are very firmly tennis, lawn garden and croquet dresses ;-) Housedress gives me 1970s hives. (And Bensimons make everything chic, right?)
DeleteI am back out planting today, Dani - going to get in all the seeds you send and much more! There is no rest for the wicked in the garden! My lilies are just starting to come - I planted them two years ago, so am please to see them spreading, though a couple went out on to the grass and need to be moved back into the bed before Barry shows up with the lawn mower!!!
DeleteLilies of the valley are my favorites too! I wore them in my hair (cut from my mother's garden) when I got married. I carried calla lilies, which are a close runner-up favorite. The D&G dress is lovely, I'm sure I can't afford it so I'm trying to wipe it from my brain. I hear you on the "Rose Bowl"--I am none too busty but very short and I often look like I'm being eaten by flowers if I wear a large floral print. I love the Cora dress in garden floral at the Crewlet--bought and then sadly and reluctantly returned--the print was just too much for little me.
ReplyDeleteOh too bad, Danielle - that is a nice dress!!! Yes - the dress was over the top!!!!
DeleteThat Giverny print is wonderful. I don't wear a lot of florals, but I did get a blue rose print dress in FL that doesn't look too fussy. I like the mostly black and white print of the D&G; just did big black and white flower print cushions for a chair.
ReplyDeleteLane - every time I get the urge to go over the top on the florals, I buy a pillow instead... Or plant more flowers!
DeleteFLOWER POWER (you knew that was coming WMM). Have two JC Liberty floral shirts and two jackets for summer. Other than that I generally steer clear. Also in short camp and afraid of looking young or aged, twee. Exceptions: the JC daisy dress in navy and cream (scale looks more pop art than floral to me and it has pockets) and a solstice floral cardigan from around late 2010. It was that black, grey, white, bronze abstract floral, totally up my street. In fact I love it so much, I have actually contemplated getting two of the strapless dresses in that print off EBay for cheap and re-fashioning the top at a tailor (strapless and I don't mix.) I also wanted to get my mitts on a midnight garden floral dress for a long time. Guess I like my florals on the dark side (inner Morticia.)
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of blooming tees, I have seen some cool (mainstream retail, not souvenir) ones done in commem. of Chelsea Flower show. Maybe you'll get one instead of the peony when you go.
GF - I will definitely have to get one of those when I go! Your inner morticia! Time to dye that hair jet black!
DeleteHave always, really always, wanted to have raven hair and blue eyes. But now I am actually resigned to "dyeing," afraid it would look way harsh. Well out of age for punk experimentation. And freckles don't really allow for a realistic look. I am an Anne girl.
DeleteI am thinking of highlights! Lord I am getting more and more adventurous as I age!
DeleteI was just about to say that my only floral was a Dolce and Gabbana dress which I had years ago, it was a fortune but I wore it to death and loved it so much.
ReplyDeleteI have never had any dolce and gabbana - that is what I will wear to the Booker awards someday, Tabs, and we can sit together and hold hands!
DeleteWhat a cheery post :)
ReplyDeleteI have only one floral item - it is a very old Gap button front shirt with a slightly liberty-esque print but a bit more modern looking.
I love prints, but I usually go for the geometric or abstract ones.
HI Abby! It is funny, the geometric and abstract ones are not typical of me at all - I love them on others though!
DeleteLike how you have paired up the flowers with complementary prints. I can picture someone coming into Wendy's floral frock shop and asking if you have anything for a shrinking violet. "Hmm, I think I may have something in the back."
ReplyDeleteI love flowers but with very few exceptions floral prints do not flatter me. Maybe they are too cutsey, as you say. I do have the peony tee and the famous chiffon rose tee v1 and v2. Other than that there are two floral shirts in my closet and I seldom wear either. I'm much more suited to geometric or abstract prints, plaids or stripes.
xoxo - there you have it - my next career! Plus I will leave space for my british/french import business on the side!
DeleteI used to own a lovely black background and medium sized roses top (I believe it was Liz Claiborne) that I absolutely adored for many years.
ReplyDeleteNow I own the 2 floral tees from JC (the midnight floral and the peony tee) and absolutely love them.
I keep thinking I should nab the floral tee - so pretty!
DeleteI was going to say that I don't have that many flower prints but I looked into my closet and I would have lied. I have quite a few flower tops, several dresses and couple of skirts. Most of them are Liberty-like prints, I think I like them because the smaller scale make them more abstract. But my fav is the big scale Gallerista print, what I like about it is the colors. I think overall I love floral prints but not when they are too realistic. As for flowers I am partial to roses but I like all of them. I always have cut flowers in my house, it is one of my weekly indulgences.
ReplyDeleteI think I am with you - one of the reasons I liked the giverny print was the painterly aspect of it. Too much details and I think it should be a print for a cushion or the wall!
DeleteI have never been a frills person, having said that there is a tiny ruffle on two of my shirts. I do love the florals though and that Roberto Cavalli is wonderful though I wonder if I might look like Mrs Roper in it? TMM? (too much material?)
ReplyDeleteI think that Mrs. Roper has made a comeback in the last year or two - all of the maxi dresses - wondered when I would see them again and they are back full force! Not I want a caftan for around the house!
DeleteNo florals here, but I have been considering that Liberty June Meadow perfect shirt that somehow eludes me. I can't tell if it is a "classic" piece, a "what was I thinking" piece or a "box it up until I'm old" piece. Any input appreciated.
ReplyDeleteNow, that dress is gorgeous. Between that lovely polka dot tie top and this dress, you are making me regret I'm not your size so I can borrow them! Your closet is home to some lovely pieces!
Not a big flower person, real or on print. I can pull flowers off but they easily bore me. The flowery prints that I wear mostly are small scale prints like the Liberty shirts. I usually prefer leaves to blossoms ;-).
ReplyDeleteWMM,
ReplyDeleteI don't know how I missed this wonderful post yesterday. I love flower prints- in moderation.I think I have gad my fill of ruffles. I would opt for the D&G if I could. Sleek, b&w and green- my favorite, and lilies of the valley , another favorite. Now, if only I had somewhere to wear it..
I am not really into florals. I just have the silk panel peony sweatshirt and a white J. Crew dress from 2001 (photo here. Love that Dolce & Gabbana dress!! The lilies of the valley in my backyard are blooming like crazy. I am madly snipping bunches to put around the house. They only last a couple weeks before disappearing.
ReplyDelete