Corsages have been adding flower power to dresses, hair and wedding wardrobes for centuries.
In the 1700s it was thought wearing flowers on the body would ward off evil spirits and disease.
A woman would wear a floral bouquet or corsage for everyday wear and a man would wear a boutonniere. Corsage is French for bouquet of the bodice and the boutonniere, more easily recognised as a buttonhole.
Moving into more modern times, our love of floral displays has never wilted. Nowadays they are generally reserved for formal occasions where a woman would wear a corsage to match her partner’s to show they are bound in a rosy romance. They have also been used as a show of gallantry. A man would arrive at his date’s house with a bouquet of flowers to show respect for the girl’s parents. He would then pick out one of the blooms and give it to his date for her to attach to her dress.
The floral bouquet can be seen on many dresses at Compton House reflecting some of the corsage’s sweet-smelling history and adding a touch of romance and whimsy to a wedding outfit.
They may often today be made of fabric rather than flowers but still retain the charm of buds just coming into bloom.
Rather than worrying about whether the mini bouquet on your dress still looks as fresh as a daisy, it makes sense to be a material girl instead. And with your badge of blooms you can go flamboyant or quietly fanciful as you wish, as there are wedding outfits with cheerful corsages to suit everyone at Compton House.
Many of the wedding outfits at Condici have complementary or contrasting corsages, so choosing your dress, is the only dilemma you will face. There are a range of colours; whether you want to plunge for a chirpy crimson , neat navy or exceptional emerald, you can pick out the dress to suit you.
At Ian Stuart, there are a clutch of corsages if you want a floral flourish. There is a sumptuous floor length dress, in the palest, silkiest of beiges where the gentle fluting of the skirt as it shimmers past the hips, is decorated with a matching corsage.
Although you won’t find a corsage the size of the one adorning Sarah Jessica Parker’s dress in Sex and the City, which may be a good thing, you can still create a stunning look for your wedding outfit, nonetheless. At Ian Stuart, there is a blooming bolero adorned with rosettes. The dress has matching rosettes on the skirt.
And you can certainly count up the corsages on another dress in the collection. A striking white dress has a hemline of black corsages as well as a matching flower perched prettily at the neckline.
At Linea Raffaelli there are more petals playing peekaboo. One of the best examples is the larger, darker corsage perched on the cream roll-necked slinky shift, which perfectly matches the black border of the wedding outfit.
There are also gentle green blooms adorning the dresses in the collection. Often these are perched a bit lower down the body, either on, or just shy of the waistband. Or, for something a bit different, try the more feathery looking decoration on the side of a bright blue dress, again matching the dark border. In fact, there is the chance for anyone’s wedding outfit to say it with flowers, so wear your posy with pride.