By Roselle Chen
(Reuters) – Thousands of flowers in brilliant hues of pink, purple, blue, orange and yellow greeted visitors at Manhattan’s Hudson Yards in New York City for the Fleurs de Villes FEMMES floral show.
“We’re so thrilled to be back here for our third show at Hudson Yards. And we’re bringing our FEMME show, which is a celebration of remarkable women,” said Tina Barkley, co-founder of Fleurs de Villes. “So you’ll see everyone from the queen to J. Lo to Bella Abzug to Serena Williams to Billie Holiday, Chita Rivera.”
Barkley said the floral talent that goes into each display of these iconic women mannequins dressed in flowers has been designed and built by a local New York florist.
Sixteen mannequins standing over 10 feet tall are covered in hydrangeas, baby’s breath, violets and more.
Owner of Polycarp Flowers and floral designer Daica Skrobala said over 700 flowers were used to adorn her Fanny Brice flower installation.
“We decided to do the marquee and on the other side, ‘Hello gorgeous,’ which is Fanny Brice’s tagline,” she said. “We had the Playbill on the base and we hope that all the different textures and the designs will really attract people to take a look, deeper.”
Skrobala said her team used their imagination in making the design come to life.
“We used a lot of botanicals, fresh florals in the skirt, roses, carnations, spray roses,” she said. “We have orchids in there because it gives it a different texture and it doesn’t look so flat if it was just all roses.”
Barkley said every major life moment is celebrated with flowers, happy or sad.
“It doesn’t matter your income level, where you come from, what language you speak. Flowers transcend all of that.”
The free show runs through Oct. 16.
(Reporting by Roselle Chen; Editing by Diane Craft)
