Botanical beauties Floral mannequins come to life as works of art By: AV Kitching Posted: 5:22 PM CST Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024

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It was the first time Britney Fache was asked to make an entire outfit out of leaves and flowers.

Fache, of Fache Florals, worked for three days on her display, which included a hairstyle, using about 800 blooms and plant materials to create her final piece: a kimono dedicated to her 22-year friendship with Chiemi from Tokyo, which started when the duo were exchange students.

“For over 20 years, I have been connected with Chiemi, a beautiful soul in Japan. We were exchange students living with each others’ families and we have remained close, learning more about each other’s cultures along the way. Throughout the year, I receive images of her family, dressed up for festivals in their beautiful kimonos; this piece celebrates and honours her culture, from the heart of one woman to another,” Fache explains.

The entire kimono is composed of 75 bleached monstera leaves with the obi (or belt) made from 20 banana leaves. Fache says it took her some time to find the right material to create her piece. She wanted the final work to look elegant without being stiff.

“The monstera leaves are a preserved item. They are large and overlap into this kind of beautiful textile which I manipulated to create my own ‘fabric.’ I wanted to have structure but still keep that softness. The monstera leaves are like a sort of flexible rice paper and very easy to control,” she says.

The final display is composed of five Phalaenopsis orchid plants; 100 roses in two colour varieties; 200 dried hydrangeas that Fache harvested locally from the gardens of friends and family; 300 carnations in three different shades; 75 monstera leaves; 20 banana leaves; 80 black cordyline leaves; three chocolate cymbidium orchid stems with 10 to 15 blooms on each stem; and around 20 stems of baby’s breath.

“I wanted the colour story to be really pronounced. I wanted the eye to move, going from light to darker to warm tones, trailing from the bottom and around and all the way to her hair, which is made from black cordyline leaves,” she says.

To keep the leaves fresh, Fache had to think outside the box; her usual floral water picks were not going to suffice.

“I have a water source tucked into her hair — it’s a turkey baster! I needed something bigger than a water pick so I strapped the turkey baster with zip ties to the head of the mannequin and there is a swim cap on top of her head. The bulbous part of the baster became the bun on her hair. The whole thing is totally hidden by the leaves,” Fache explains.

Fache’s kimono is one of 15 floral artworks in the Fleurs de Villes show currently on at the Leaf until Sunday. Fifteen local florists were invited to create pieces around the Voyage theme.

Using only plant material, the artists folded, draped and coaxed leaves and flowers into works of sartorial elegance.

As well as Fache’s elegant kimono, visitors will encounter mannequins inspired by Pahiyas, the Philippines’ most colourful harvest festival, a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony and a spectacular Chinese floral dragon.

Juliet Cadiz of Posh Pampas chose to highlight the Pahiyas Festival from the Philippines for her display.

“Every year on May 15, the town of Lucban plays host to the Pahiyas Festival, a colourful harvest celebration renowned for its rainbow-coloured spectacles made from local produce,” she explains.

“The Philippines is very rich in culture and tradition. I wanted my piece to pique the interest of visitors. I wanted to showcase the different kinds of regional celebrations that are held there. More than just displaying a dress I wanted to focus on the educational side and hope that people will be interested in learning more about the country.”

Cadiz chose the Pahiyas festival because it resonates with her.

‘With me being a seasonal gardener, a harvest festival really is something I celebrate. A lot of work goes into a harvest and being able to come together and celebrate it with the community is really special,” she says.

It took Cadiz more than 30 hours to create her artwork, which showcases 10 varieties of flowers chosen based on how well they would dry without losing colour and how well they would retain their shape.

The creation features a combination of fresh and dried straw flowers, five bundles of craspedia, also known as yellow billy balls, mini carnations, spider mums, button mums, baby’s breath, statice, fresh and preserved roses, red ginger flowers and apisdistra.

“The backdrop is made from chicken wire. I used raffia as one of my building materials to create the background, looping the stringy material into each hole which was a very tedious job that took a lot of my time,” Cadiz says.

The show has been a tremendous success, so far, says the Leaf’s Laura Cabak.

“The response has been outstanding. Attendance has been great so far and feedback has been so positive. We are thrilled to share this experience with our visitors and to showcase the amazing talents of our local florists,” she says.

Founded by Tina Barkley and Karen Marshall, Fleurs de Villes has produced more than 85 shows featuring more than 800 floral artists in destinations across Canada, the U.S., England, Scotland and Australia.

Planning each installation requires an immense amount of work, Barkley says.

“Florists must choose a flower selection that will be most robust given the ten-day show circumstances. We always encourage a part-dried, part-fresh approach, mainly because there is often part of the mannequin that needs to be flat or slim (therefore no water) so it’s best to use dried flowers or foliage that can be glued. Then wherever fresh will be, we need to plan for mechanics to provide a watercourse to those flowers. Changing out flowers as they need is paramount to keeping things looking fresh to the end of the show,” Barkley says.

“Even in a vase or regular flower arrangement, ten days is a lot to ask from flowers.”

Keeping the display in top condition for the duration of the show is challenging as high temperatures in the Leaf’s biomes can hasten the decaying process.

“In the biome, the temperatures are very warm, and heat is the number one killer of flowers, so we have tried to drop the temperature to help manage that,” Barkley continues.

Fleurs de Villes Voyage is currently on at the Mediterranean Biome and the Babs Asper Display House. Entry is included with regular admission to the Leaf, located in Assiniboine Park.