american flowers week ~ June 28 to July 4 ~ Celebrating American Grown Flowers in all 50 States

2024 Botanical Couture Look Four: Feminine Power Suit

Niesha Blancas has been an essential partner in the promotion of American Flowers Week since our early days. Beginning in 2021, she joined the ranks of creators whose botanical couture looks elevate local and seasonal flowers with avante garde garments that have told narratives ranging from 1990s pop culture to the Bridgerton phenomenon to her family’s Mexican-American roots.

“Unwritten,” Niesha’s fifth botanical couture design, is her most personal project yet. This year, not only does Niesha get in front of the camera as the garment’s model, she uses the medium of flowers to tell a personal story of healing.

Her ensemble includes a bralette, a tailored jacket, and high-waisted pants, fully cloaked in vivid green foliage with accents in red, pink, purple, lavender, and blue flowers. She continues earlier themes, including opera gloves as her preferred fashion accessory, with the addition of a floral pillbox hat. Leaves from spotted laurel (Aucuba japonica), have factored prominently in the four prior looks Niesha has designed. But this year, when she visited CamFlor Inc., in Watsonville, California, to select her botanical ingredients, she was unable to find Aucuba.

“I have included this leaf every single year, and I couldn’t not have it this year,” she insisted. Fortunately, her mother, Cathy Blancas, found the plant at a local garden center, so Niesha plucked a single gold-flecked leaf and used it as her jacket’s “pocket handkerchief.”

Niesha clipped hundreds of individual pink and green ornamental kale leaves and shiny green Israeli ruscus foliage to attach to her base garments, using florist cold glue to cloak the pants and jacket with overlapping layers of greenery. There’s a pleasing contrast between the rounded kale edges and the pointed ruscus tips, as the varied leaf shapes create a pattern of their own. The foliages cover olive green vintage pants and jacket, which Niesha found months ago on her many thrifting excursions.

“I thought it would be smart to use green pieces,” she noted. Any hint of fabric disappears from view because of the predominance of foliage.

Niesha selected a mix of florals for the jacket’s color-blocked details that appear on shoulders, sleeves, and cuffs. Anemone, cornflower, dahlia, delphinium, dianthus, kangaroo paw, statice, pincushion protea, peony, ranunculus, and sweet pea create mini tapestries that relate to many of the headpiece blooms. For Niesha, this year’s botanical couture project represents a year of personal growth, as she experienced trauma that came with the loss of a close relative.

“I have been on a journey of inner healing, and I wanted to put something beautiful out into the world that told my story,” she explained. “Each picture showcases a different form of support and how much it has meant to me.”

The image with four gloved hands reaching toward her reminds Niesha of the power of an inner circle, friends and family members. “Each hand symbolizes the love and support of my inner circle as they left—and continue to leave—a lasting imprint throughout this journey of mine,” she explained.

The portrait in which Niesha holds her beloved cat “Rami” (who wears a kitty harness completely covered in botanicals) symbolizes the emotional support that pets can give. “Out of my four little ones, Rami was chosen. Just like his brother cats, he possesses one of the purest of souls and knows his way around a photoshoot just so he can load up on treats,” she jokes.

There’s also a photo of Niesha’s green-gloved hand reaching for another’s purple-gloved hand, which is symbolism for welcoming vulnerability and seeking support in therapy. As she continues her symbolism through the accessories, Niesha expressed another idea with the pillbox hat. Covered completely with botanicals, the hat is a nod to positive mental health.

“The idea is to remind ourselves to focus on the common goal of protecting our peace, maintaining a healthy mind, and always striving to carry beautiful thoughts,” she said.

As she modeled the garment, Niesha relied on her friend Ana Quinata to capture these storytelling moments. “It was reassuring to keep in my mind that I’ve done this creative process before—but with my muses. This time was special, because I was my own muse and shared my emotions . . . that’s pretty cool.”

Her ensemble is styled beautifully. Edgy, romantic, and original . . . 100 percent Niesha.

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DESIGN + CONCEPT: Niesha Blancas, Fetching Social, @fetchingsocial
DESIGN ASSISTANT: Ana Quinata
FLORAL SOURCE: CamFlor Inc., Watsonville, California, camflor.com | @camflorinc
MODELS: Niesha Blancas, Rami Blancas
PHOTOGRAPHY + EDITING: Ana Quinata + Niesha Blancas

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