THE CHARM AND WHIMSICALITY OF VINTAGE FLORALS
“For she lingers there, like sunshine over the ground, and ever I see her soft white fingers searching after the bud she found.” -Robert Browning, Garden-Fancies
The most popular vintage floral aesthetic is, undoubtedly, Victorian. The mid to late nineteenth and early twentieth century designs used for decorative scrapbooks, on “greeting cards, valentine’s, calendars, and chocolate box labels” were a product of chromolithography. This form of colour printing made it possible to obtain images of “rosy-cheeked children, cherubs, hearts, baskets of roses, bouquets of flowers, mountains of fruit, ribbons, lace, pets and birds.” Sadly, by the 1930s, the craze for Victorian scrapbooking was over. While this particular niche aesthetic became a thing of the past, the love for vintage floral design is now more in vogue than ever.
Some of the most commonly used florals from the Victorian era include wild roses, violets, forget-me-nots, clover, Queen Anne’s lace (wild carrot), wood anemone, black-eyed Susans, daisies, pansies, and lily-of-the-valley. The Victorian Language of Flowers is, to this day, notorious for its romantic intent. Some words just simply weren’t uttered aloud during the 19th century for fear of becoming a social pariah; entire conversations were spoken through the giving and receiving of certain flowers. Since “many sentiments could never be expressed directly in ‘polite’ society, the language of flowers became a way for the upper class to send coded, secret messages.”
When it came to courtship, a red carnation represented romantic love while a pink one symbolized maternal love. White carnations were sent to wish good luck, while the yellow variation of the flower was a symbol for rejection. Flower placement and body language had special meaning, too. If one took a flower offering in their right hand, this signified “yes,” while a bouquet held upside down was a sign of dismissal. Of course, small fragrant bouquets—known as nosegays—given as gifts to ladies from prospective suitors held great significance. If the woman receiving the bouquet held it in the center of her bodice, she only desired friendship, while a tussie-mussie positioned in front of the heart meant that love was requited.
Purple-flowering raspberry betrays its kinship to the wild rose by its similarity. Vintage florals wouldn’t be quite as charming if they didn’t include plump berries, brambly vines, and delicate petals. This is why honeysuckle, blackberry, and even strawberry are always favoured in whimsical antique images. A lady slipper even looks like an accessory that a Victorian lady might wear. The yellow lady’s slipper (or whip-poor-will’s shoe) has “long, wavy brownish petals” that give the flower “an alert startled look when surprised in its lonely hiding places.” Frances Theodora Parsons’ 1893 book, “How to Know the Wild Flowers: A Guide to the Names, Haunts, and Habits of Our Common Wildflowers,” is now part of the Public Domain and is filled with poetry and beautifully articulated information on every sort of wildflower. It is considered one of the first field guides, is complete with hundreds of illustrations, and provides inspiration for any nature lover. The description of wood anemone’s “feathery foliage of the spring woods” and “tremulous beauty” is enough to make any reader fall madly in love with botany.
Other than the flowers themselves and images that depict them, there are so many ways in which vintage flora has manifested itself. Through fashion – namely, dresses and jewelry, wallpaper, and, of course, glassware – collecting vintage flora is a hobby that many enjoy simply for its aesthetic beauty. The velvety face of a pansy, downy lamb’s ear, or mossy garden rose are what the 17th-century Dutch masters, Impressionists, and Rococo painters attempted to capture. Today, the desire to collect vintage florals and plant them in our gardens is more than nostalgia: it’s a sensibility for the poetic, graceful, and elegant aspects of life.
For all your floral needs—vintage and otherwise—check out Chelsea Flowers at the website.
For more on vintage florals and texts cited in this blog, consult the following links:
https://books.google.com/books/about/How_to_know_the_wild_flowers.html?id=n3kcQDlZvIIC