Ondine: Fleurs De Villes: Northwest Flower & Garden Festival: Seattle 2020

The floral designer's company name Ondine means "little wave or sea witch" in French and it represents her love of the sea and her island roots. I love the antique colors and vintage vibe she conveys with her beautiful creation, which won the People's Choice Award from the public. 

Look at how she wove sea grass to create a shell-like base. So inspired. I commented on Instagram to the designer, Hannah Rindlaub, that the gown reminded me of something Jane Seymour would wear in the movie, Somewhere in Time, a romantic movie set in Michigan (yay!) in 1912. Have you seen the film? It's one of my favorites. Congratulations, to the team at Ondine.

The collection of floral mannequins is an installation arranged by Fleurs De Villes, who "combines the love of flowers, local design talent, and bespoke, utterly unique displays, for experiential events like none other." 

I enjoyed listening to Fleurs De Villes founders, Karen Marshall and Tina Barkley, discuss their company with SLOW Flowers creator, Debra Prinzing in her podcast, just weeks before their Seattle debut. 

Hendrick's Gin was a sponsor of the Fleurs De Villes at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show and they had a beautiful bar area and floral cocktails adorned with edible flowers available for purchase. My impression was that it was designed to looked like the mannequins, in their floral glory, were guests at Seattle's biggest garden party. Well done.

I have long talked about encouraging people to find delight at the intersection of two things that they love. As I stood at the show, I realized that my appreciation for the gowns of Fleurs De Villes at the Northwest Flower & Garden Festival is because for me, they hit a bulls eye at the intersection of flowers and Barbies. 

I love Barbies and have such happy memories of combining just the right clothing, jewelry and hair styles to make my dolls look their best. I played with joy, imagination and freedom. When I walked among the Fleur De Villes mannequins, I had flashbacks of some of my favorite gowns, high heels and sheer nightgowns - all fabulous and all made for an 11 inch doll. I love that the whimsy of Fleurs De Villes allows local floral designers the chance to give in to their joy and imagination and the freedom to create custom couture. The result makes us all swoon.

#nwfgs #fleursdevilles #seattle #gardenshow #floraldesign #floralgown #colorstory #flowerinstallation #finddelight #seattleblogger #floralglory #barbies #hendricksgin #SLOWflowers