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

Fresh-cut branches, berries, and greenery get all dressed up

Photography by Matt McDaniel

Last fall, Jennifer Reed and Kelly Shore traveled from their east coast studios to Forest Grove, Oregon, where they taught a holiday design workshop at one of Continental Floral Greens’ satellite farms. The event was captured for Slow Flowers Journal’s Fall 2024 cover story, photographed by Matt McDaniel (read the story here). Slow Flowers asked the women, American Flowers Week botanical couture designers for past seasons, whether they wanted to create a botanical couture look using classic Pacific Northwest greens and foliage.

Owner of Jennifer Designs, Reed said yes and took the lead, enjoying the chance to design with freshly-harvested conifer greens, broadleaf evergreen sprays, and berry-laded boughs. While also producing the two-day design workshop, Shore, owner of The Floral Source, found time to assist her frequent collaborator.

In planning her dramatic look, Reed says researched for Oregon-themed cultural and artistic influences online. “When I googled ‘Oregon,’ the movie ‘Goonies’ kept popping up,” she laughed. “So my original idea was some sort of pirate look.” Fans of the 1985 cult classic may will recall the plotline: A group of young misfits called The Goonies discover an ancient map and set out on an adventure to find a legendary pirate’s long-lost treasure. The production was filmed in the coastal fishing town of Astoria, Oregon. Reed continues, “I asked myself, why would a pirate be on a flower farm? It made no sense.”
Even after she moved onto other ideas, it turns out that a swashbuckler vibe remained – and the look Reed created is both an ode to the best foliage crops produced in Oregon, and a playful nod to some of the corseted attire worn by the “Outlander” series’ lead actress, Caitríona Balfe.

Reed sent her sketches to Madison Milgard, brand director for Continental Floral Greens, who helped source the ingredients on Reed’s list. Milgard, whose family co-founded CFG, grew up surrounded by acres of conifer trees and shrubs, so it wasn’t hard to convince her to model Reed’s floral garment, too.

“Madison sent me the magnolia leaves ahead of time so I could get started on the corset,” Reed recalled. She shaped overlapping layers of the leathery foliage over an actual fabric corset, exposing the soft, caramel-colored indumentum that appears on the back of each glossy green leaf. “Every single part of the leaves had to be glued and then held in position with the heat of my hand to keep their shape around the body,” she explained. I didn’t want the edges to pop up or crack once the magnolia dried.” Little details give the garment its character, such as bits of lichen tucked into spaces between some of the leaves, resembling torn lace.

It’s often hard to avoid a bulky look when a human model dresses in botanical couture, but Reed’s corset fit Milgard like a glove. Clasps along the back allowed for a snug fit when worn. Botanical accents grace the neckline, shoulders, and upper arms, including vibrant Oregon native vine maple and nandina, which resemble a vintage mantilla scarf. The high-low skirt was comprised of two sections, which simplified the mechanics and achieved an important goal of Reed’s: “I always want my models to be able to move in my floral garments.” The underskirt, worn across the front of the body like an apron, has a chicken wire base with a tapestry of intricate texture and color patterns provided by branches of nandina, Ilex with red berries, and branches with rose hips. Reed attached most of the pieces to the waistline, starting with a dense placement at the belt and allowing sprays to softly drape and weave together closer to the hemline.

After Milgard stepped into these two skirt pieces, Reed added cedar boughs at the hips, cutting them short to resemble a flouncy peplum. Accessories complete this look, including a charming pair of shoes that the designer covered in magnolia leaves.

“This was a fun way to show off evergreens without it looking Christmasy,” Shore observed. “It really reads ‘Northwest’ and isn’t pigeonholed in the winter season.” The garment highlights some of the best Oregon-grown options for florists, Shore continued. Through The Floral Source, she supplies florists with many of the greenery, foliage, and fruiting branches grown by this farm. “I don’t think people realize how fun it is to explore a farm to see what it grows,” Shore raved. “There is so much cool material here that many florists around the country aren’t used to having.”

The ability to clip extra ingredients on a moment’s notice, while designing, fabricating, and photographing this look at the farm, was a dream, Reed said. Add the gorgeous almost-sunset moment in the CFG fields, as the backdrop for photography, and this creative collaboration between a farm and floral designers was immensely satisfying.

DESIGN + CONCEPT:
Jennifer Reed, Jennifer Designs
jenniferdesignsevents.com
@jenniferdesignsevents

PHOTOGRAPHY: Matt McDaniel
mattyphotography.com

FOLIAGE SOURCE:
Continental Floral Greens
cfgreens.com
@cfgreens

MODEL, HAIR + MAKEUP: Madison Milgard
VENUE: Continental Floral Greens, Forest Grove, Oregon
DESIGN ASSISTANT Kelly Shore, The Floral Source
thefloralsource.com
@thefloralsource