Royal Wedding

Oh happy, happy day. Kate Middleton's wedding dress is a triumph for British fashion.

The message of this wedding dress is clear. Kate looks every bit the princess, but nothing at all like Princess Diana. My fear before the wedding was that, in wanting to avoid the overblown, Dynasty-esque glamour of Diana, Kate would opt for safety and understatement. Instead, the slender lace sleeves and the glory of the swagged train, the piety of the neckline and the splendour of the chantilly lace all draw on the wedding dress of fashion's favourite princess bride, Grace Kelly. With this dress, Kate has redrawn the order of princess succession. She has stepped out of Diana's shadow, but by making a strong visual connection to Princess Grace, made a strong statement that she intends to look every inch the princess. 

The choice of Sarah Burton is a fistpump moment for everyone who loves and cheerleads British fashion. Fashion is one arena in which this country is truly world class, and Burton represents that. She is one of the most talented designers working today, not just in Britain but in the world. Her clothes are fearlessly creative and realised with a fierce attention to detail. Her most recent show featured a corset made of mosaic porcelain, which had been made as one piece, deliberately shattered into shards, and then resewn, piece by piece.

The choice of Burton, who was Alexander McQueen's right-hand woman and succeeded him after his death, is an encouraging sign of boldness from the woman dubbed Waity Katy. Some at Clarence House must have been concerned that for many of the people watching today, the McQueen name means suicide, darkness and tragedy, not tailoring and beauty. Kate could have picked a far safer name. To pick McQueen is inspired, because the label has always been about telling stories through clothes, and that is what a day like this is all about. It is the perfect choice.

The dress will do what seemed unthinkable a year ago, and make Sarah Burton more famous than McQueen himself. As of today, being a princess is back in fashion.

(Source Guardian)

Plum Blossoms in Bloom

Plum blossoms in bloom, aren't they beautiful?

More Spring time

Forced cherry blossoms in early March with my early, fragrant daffodils

I'm prone to think of Summer as time of strong, quick growth culminating in radical changes in the garden from one week to the next, but this year's spring is proving to be just that. My tiny garden is thriving and bursting with flowers. The first to bloom was of course my prized hellebores, followed by my snowdrops and crocus, violas, pink daisies, marigolds, daffodils, tulips, pear tree, dogwood, japanese rose, azaleas and bleeding hearts. The lilacs are almost blooming and my poppies, hydrangeas and peonies are also growing rapidly, can't wait for them to bloom. 

a few cutting of my tulips

new variety of daffodils I planted

I planted about 350 bulbs of tulips and daffodils for this year and had great results. I will be adding more varieties for next year, perhaps some hyacinths and muscaries. I highly recommend everyone to plant bulbs in your garden, they're so easy and are a bundle joy in the spring time. 

Japanese rose, it's growing prolificly

last cutting of my daffodils, a shot with maidenhair fern

Make sure you bring the flowers inside the house! You worked so hard to grow beautiful flowers, so don't just enjoy them outside, but bring them in and celebrate the arrival of spring!

Springtime Finally Arrives!

The arrival of Spring may be signaled by different things in many different countries, but in Japan it's usually when the baby bamboo shoots hit the grocery store and the glorious blooms of the cherry blossoms. We've had an amazing long lasting display of cherry blossoms this year.  

As far back as 794 cherry trees were planted in Japan because of their beauty. They were originally meant to adorn the grounds of the nobility but it eventually became a practice that was prized by everyone. So, the cherry blossom bloom marks the arrival of spring. It starts in early January in Okinawa in southernmost Japan, and gradually advances north, ending finally in Hokkaido by mid-May. This "sakura zansen" (cherry blossom front) is tracked daily by the media, so that people can prepare for "hanami," the traditonal cherry blossom viewing parties, when the flowers are at their peak. For Japanese, this tradition strengthens families and friendships.

For the Japanese the cherry blossom represents the transience of life with the blossoms opening for a display of extreme beauty and leading to a quick death. They are also a symbol of good fortune and of affection and love. The cherry blossom has also been a symbol of Japanese territory as the emperor would plant cherry blossom trees as a way to symbolize ownership over the colonial territories that it claimed.

My personal favorites are the shiogama zakura, Fugenzo, Kanzan and Kikuzakura which are the late bloomers, so I'm waiting for them to bloom! These sakura's bloom almost the same time as the peach blossoms. In case you didn't know, the plum trees bloom first, then the cherries, then the peach. 

Sorry

Sorry for not updating... I know I've gone MIA for a while. Anyways, a quick update with two of my arrangements I was taught from my designer. The first is a mixed arrangement in a sphere vase using chicken wire. The second, a parallel decorative arrangement. This looks very weird and it's not a common parallel arrangement, but I had to learn this unique, odd arrangement to attain a Dutch Floral Design Diploma. 


Although the first chartreuse shade arrangement was quite difficult to arrange, I hate arranging in sphere shaped vases, I LOVE the flowers and the color schemes. I feel that chartreuse themed arrangements tend to be very modern looking, but this is a perfect combination of classical and modern. I LOVE THESE KIND OF STYLES. This is very reminiscent of the Parisian floral arrangements. 

You have NO idea how difficult this was to arrange following the rules. All the stems are to touch the bottom of the vase, there should be no foliage touching the water, the water is to be crystal clear, the flowers are to be arranged following the Biedemeier style and all this is to be arranged through an unstably placed chicken wire at the opening of the vase... And you are to arrange this in less than 30min... This picture was taken after my second try....

Don't even comment on this... I had no idea what I was doing with this. This is  the first time tackling a modern flower arrangement... The teachers told me I did a good job, but I totally feel like I need loads of practice. I was disappointed that I had to cut the rose SOOOO short!!! I can't begin to comprehend the Dutch, they make you cut the most expensive rose so close to the bloom, but expect you to keep the gerbera daisies long! OUTRAGEOUS! lol*


Will update more soon.