2024 Botanical Couture Look One: A Poppy State of Mind
Photography by Jenny M. Diaz
The California poppy (Eschscholzia californica), also called golden poppy, has long been depicted by illustrators and artisans who work in pottery, stained glass, surface design, and other media. Poppies often appear in the Art Nouveau style of the early 1900s, entwined with graceful curves and natural forms.
Jenny Diaz was inspired by the work of Art Nouveau painter and illustrator, Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939), known for his illustrations of women with flowing hair, diaphanous gowns, and lots of flowers, including poppies. In planning her fourth floral fashion for American Flowers Week, Jenny turned to Mucha’s style, interpreting it for her own.
“His work is whimsical, but feminine and elegant,” Jenny explained. “The vibe I wanted was whimsical, but also playful and ethereal.” You can just imagine her model looking at home in the California of the 1960s—barefoot and carefree.
Jenny is credited with designing many American Flowers Week and Slow Flowers Society projects—including our original AFW logo in 2016 and two popular coloring sheets, including one depicting all 50 state flowers on a map of the U.S., which features the state of California surrounded by poppies, perhaps giving Jenny a Poppy State of Mind for this year’s project.
For the photography location, a meadow near Shaver Lake in the Sierra National Forest, Jenny fashioned a trio of larger-than-life poppy flowers to appear as props. A true maker, she researched how to fabricate giant flowers by watching YouTube tutorials, picking up all the needed supplies to turn PVC pipe, construction paper, and pipe cleaners into imaginative, oversized blooms. The flowers frame model Kara Trukki, as she portrays a turn-of-the-century woman—straight from Mucha’s canvas.
The bodice of a long, flowing dress is covered with the foliage and blooms of amaranth, with shoulder details that include safflower, amaranth, bunny tail grass, and other blooms. The green amaranth foliage gives the bodice a pavé surface that extends to the deep V-neckline and a waistband patterned with safflower (in bloom and bud), dahlia heads, and clusters of statice. To emphasize the drape of the gown’s skirt, Jenny layered a delicate tracing of stems and petals as “botanical embroidery,” letting blooms trail downward from the waistline and creating a meadow across the hemline.
The photography echoes Mucha’s preference for pastoral scenes like this one, with a picnic basket and fruit continuing the narrative. It’s a perfect narrative for celebrating California’s iconic state flower.
DESIGN + CONCEPT: Jenny M. Diaz, Jenny M. Diaz Design, @jennymdiaz
PHOTOGRAPHY + EDITING: Jenny M. Diaz
FLOWER SOURCES: CamFlor Inc., Watsonville, California, camflor.com | @camflorinc
MODEL: Kara Trukki, @luckytrukk1
VENUE: Shaver Lake, California
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Right-click above or download all of our American Flowers Week graphics featuring this beautiful look!