Petal  pushers

Flush from the success of well-received New Year’s Eve party ensembles and resolutions made, tastemakers are finding that dressing the part of cheery optimist isn’t in quite as bad taste as it used to be. That positive note seems to be taking the shape of flora and fauna.

Fashion, it seems, has fallen in love with florals once again. If you worship at the altar of pure positivism, then this is the trend for you.

Everyone from Stella McCartney to Dries Van Noten has channeled some flower power for their spring-summer collections. Prada’s floral dresses, which retail for over a thousand dollars, though eerily similar to the debutant dresses your grandmother dreamed of wearing to the school prom, have become a favorite of editors, making it to numerous must-have lists in a matter of weeks after they debuted on the runway. (They are also the star frocks of the brand's 2008 ad campaign).

Laura Ashley, who might’ve written the Magna Carta on flower print appropriation, doesn’t have anything on the latest horticultural designs hitting the runways.

Dries Van Noten preferred his florals tossed in with some tropical references, juxtaposing ‘50s-style hibiscus blooms with bamboo patterns. Anne Klein’s Isabel Toledo was inspired by husband Ruben’s playful etchings, some of which appeared to directly influence one dress in particular: a nipped-in-the-waist plisse number with a spray of painted-on blooms decorating the frock.

Balenciaga threw everyone for a loop when the label debuted sculpted, foam-padded gladiator-esque frocks in bright, almost mad efflorescent prints. Critics pooh-poohed the collection, stating that these head-to-toe ensembles wouldn’t be practical for real life. Even endorser Jennifer Connelly drew the fashion police’s ire when she dared to wear one of the frocks unaltered to a red carpet event. But tastemakers, hip to the groove of Ghesquire’s statement-making, trend-starting tendencies, haven’t quite denounced the collection, and have settled for decorating the much-lauded designer with another much-vaunted title: visionary. And what with runways rife — no, verdant — with blooms, no one can disagree. 

* * *

For made-to-order apparel by Kate Torralba, contact 0917-5001229. Her ready-to-wear pieces are available at Kate Torralba at 2/L Greenbelt 5. Backstage is located at 2/L Serendra, The Fort, Global City.

* * *

E-mail me at oohbea@gmail.com!