Desperate Romantics...

I thought I would share a slightly more in depth post about our gold medal winning exhibit at Hampton Court Flower Show! The theme for the whole of the pavillion was 'Romance & Roses'  & here's a little of what we took inspiration from. - 

Although the actual stand was based upon 'The Lady of Shalott' by Waterhouse, we were also inspired by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The original idea was a combination between The Lady of Shalott & Millais' 'Ophelia' - one of my favourite Pre-Raphaelite painting. We liked the idea of using, wild, rambling roses & rustic, meadow flowers such as the poppies & cornflowers depicted in 'Ophelia'.

This is 'Lady Lilith' by Rossetti.

I loved the BBC series 'Desperate Romantics' based on the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

Here are some more images & details of our stand!

I loved the ethereal combination of the white roses, pale blue nigella & frosted senecio leaves which decorated the outer edge of the boat.

 A sea of David Austin roses forming the Lady of Shalott's cape!

 The sides of the stand were built up like riverbanks - I love the naturalistic styling of them. The water was made up of blue & green glass chipping which provided a really lovely contrast.

The jacket was made up of  preserved stakys leaves which look & feel so much like velvet. The bodice was incredibly detailed and made up of astrantia, spray roses & ornithogalum.
We chose various love letters & poetry to make up as messages in a bottle of Lady Shalott's lost love.