Celebrates 2022 American Flowers Week
• Our 4th Botanical Couture Season
Great Grains • Novel application for a traditional Meso–South American staple
Long grown as a food crop in South America and Mesoamerica, upright Amaranthus cruentus and trailing A. caudatus are now loved for their looks, even in clothing fit for a runway.
For our fourth botanical couture project for American Flowers Week, two members of the Hensley's flower team went straight to the trial gardens, where they spend the season testing and evaluating cut flower and herb varieties.
From late summer into early fall, amaranth is one of the stars. Our lineup includes several varieties, from upright burgundy, coral and copper types to long, trailing lime-green and deep red ones. "They give fall arrangements such a lovely range of color," says our flower and herb product manager. Like flower farmers, the team sows amaranth in succession to keep it coming until the first frost.
Amaranth flowers look a lot like chenille, the tufted fabric of old-fashioned robes and bedspreads, and the idea of an amaranth coat caught the team's imagination. "I wasn't sure amaranth would work for this, or turn out so beautiful, since the colors fade a bit," our product manager says. "Now it seems obvious, because the flowers' texture and the shape of the plumes really are like textile fibers."
She and our flower trial technician cut hundreds of amaranth stems and kept them from turning brittle by misting them now and then once they were dry. "We have a space in the barn just for drying and evaluating flowers," she says. "There's always something hanging up to dry."
To start, she bought two velvet women's blazers at a discount store. "The velvet matched the copper amaranth exactly," she says.
She wanted two different coat shapes, and the blazers were easy to alter for the two models, a pair of friends who work together on the farm in summer and in shipping in winter. "We figured their chemistry would bring a lot to the shoot, because they always have fun together."
For the first coat, she cut away most of the sleeves and folded them into caps. She took amaranth plumes apart and handled them like rope or bulky yarn. "It isn't efficient, and it was a lot of work, but I really enjoyed it and it gave me some quiet Zen time." For the separate hood, she wove a tapestry-like fabric on a hand loom from more lengths of the rope-like amaranth and some plumes. The flat appliqué and contrasting fringe turn a plain blazer into something special, and amaranth-covered booties finish the look.
For the second coat, she used dark red amaranth to add bold detail across the back and shoulders. The chunky coat is worn with short shorts and sheepskin-style boots, also layered with dried amaranth.
Dried flowers have one big advantage for botanical couture: you can work on a piece over days or weeks. "I have a dress form at home, so I worked on the coats in the evenings," she says. "Then we had a few sessions together, and our trial technician made some of the smaller details, like the shorts and shoes, on her own."
Our photographer joined the team and models late one fall afternoon for the shoot. "It was the same week the pumpkin trial fields were open for staff to pick pumpkins," she laughs. "While we were shooting, little kids kept running into the field asking what we were doing." It was a fitting backdrop for clothes made from amaranth, a crop long grown for grain.
— our flower and herb product manager
Months later the dried coats hang in the office, one still on a dress form. "When it's warm enough for seeds to sprout, I'd like to put the boots in my garden," she says. "With enough moisture and heat they might grow, and that could be the next art project."
CREATIVE CREDITS
Designer: our flower and herb product manager
Production Assistance: our flower trial technician
Models: two Hensley's team members
Photography: our staff photographer
Location: Flower trial gardens
Floral Palette:
