2024 Botanical Couture Look Five: A trailing skirt “grows” from the garden
Having participated in two past botanical couture productions, flower farmer Linda Spradlin has no shortage of ideas for transforming her farm’s annuals, bulbs, and perennials into floral fashion.
She imagined the costume of a woman attending a midsummer masquerade ball, fashioning a billowing skirt with a long botanical train that appears to be blooming from the ground as if it were planted. The skirt is worn by Ericka Leighton-Spradlin, her daughter-in-law, who paired it with a little black dress, floral jewelry and a party mask.
Linda created the full-length skirt from a base of chicken wire, attached to a waistband. Openings in the metal mesh accommodate hundreds of water picks to keep flowers fresh and hydrated. “I spent days putting the water picks into the skirt,” Linda admitted. Each tube held clusters of flowers in place.
Photographed in late spring, the verdant train takes its inspiration from a cutting garden, with peonies, bearded irises, alliums, sweet William, baptisia, hellebores, lamb’s ear foliage, and nepeta “in bloom” against the background of hosta foliage and other greenery. “I wanted my garment to be fresh and seasonal,” Linda pointed out. “I didn’t want to use anything that wasn’t growing at that moment.”
White statice accentuates the skirt’s front openings, emulating ruffle trim, while threaded craspedia (Billy ball) drapes across the model’s torso as strands of oversized beads. Rhubarb leaves, harvested from the garden of Nan Matteson of Queen City Flower Farm—Linda’s past botanical couture collaborator—line the underskirt to provide a soft finish that protects the model’s legs from scratchy chicken wire.
The garment is styled with Linda’s take on “slow jewelry,” a necklace created from willow saplings and foraged bark and feathers, with honeycomb pieces contributed from a local beekeeper. For the photo shoot, a task assigned to Linda’s son Zachary, the “prop” is a planted Victorian parlor chair. Where tufted velvet once cushioned the seat, there’s now a planting of moss, herbs, and spring perennials. “It’s definitely a growing chair,” she joked.
Linda sees herself as a “maker” for whom the garden and flower fields are her favorite art supplies. “There’s something about the natural world, and this botanical couture garment is a way for me to be in the natural world and be creative.”
Later this summer, when customers visit In the Garden Flower Farm to harvest from Linda’s you-pick field, she will put the planted chair on display. “It will be adorable and perfect for photo ops!”
DESIGN + CONCEPT: Linda Spradlin, In the Garden Flower Farm, @inthegardenflowerfarm
DESIGN ASSISTANT: Nan Matteson, Queen City Flower Farm, @queencityflowerfarm
FLORAL CONTRIBUTIONS: In the Garden Flower Farm, Queen City Flower Farm, City Farm Studio, CCS Blooms, The Flower Lady OTR, Maygical Garden
CamFlor Inc., Watsonville, California, camflor.com | @camflorinc
MODEL: Ericka Leighton-Spradlin
PHOTOGRAPHY: Zachary Spradlin
VENUE: In the Garden Flower Farm, Seven Mile, Ohio
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