Flower Ladies

Chanel's spring 2009 haute couture collection was done entirely in black and white, with thousands of paper flowers everywhere. In fact, Karl Lagerfeld had a team of 4o people labor for two weeks creating 7000 paper flowers, bouquets and tablecloths for the decor which evoked a glamorous nightclub in the 1930s, the period of the last great depression. What really fascinated me were the gorgeous ephemeral headpieces created by Japanese hair stylist Katsuya Kamo, also created out of paper. For me, these intricate confections eclipsed the clothes, which is hard to do when you are talking about Chanel which I adore. These images brought to mind a collection I love by the very talented artist Harrison Howard. This collection is called Flower People. Howard calls his "Flower Ladies" fantasies based on fashion design. I think one would call Lagerfeld's wonderful collection fashion design based on fantasies. Mr. Howard's work is stunning, beautiful, charming, and addictive. I love his fanciful fantasy world. His watercolors and limited edition giclee prints (which are quite affordable) can be found on his website. You must check out his entire collection. This and his collection Chinoiseries are my favorites.

(photos courtesy of chanel.com, style.com and harrisonhoward.com)