Love affairs, a royal scandal, a BAZAAR column — the colourful life of florist ConstanCe spry is a constant source of surprise and inspiration.
Flower pieces are the craze of the moment,” wrote British florist and author Constance Spry in Harper’s BAZAAR in May 1932. At the time, her own exuberant arrangements were filling the houses of the great and good, including ravishing concoctions reproducing Dutch old masters: “Against the Queen Anne green, the gold of the drawing room or the pine panels of the dining room, they unobtrusively add a graceful and personal finale.” That theatrical “finale” is the giveaway. Spry liked drama, wowing society by mixing hothouse flowers with old man’s beard and kale leaves, using lichen-covered branches, decorating tables with massive violets, standing an amazing cactus in the hall. The unexpected was key: her flowers were always a talking point.
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