Bloomin’ Fabulous Runway Series – Part 5

We recently hosted our second instalment of Bloomin’ Fabulous at the Bicentennial Conservatory in Adelaide Botanic Garden. If you missed out on this exploration at the intersection of queer fashion and all things botanical, you’re in luck. We’re revisiting the runway with each instalment including three different makers with their respective artist statement.

Theo Warner

Queer floriography (pansies and lavender), Gown and boa

I wanted to do something connected with LGBT history and was inspired by queer floriography—the symbology of flowers and how they have been used for the LGBT community as pejorative, secret code, or reclamation. The gown is the deep purple a pansy, which has been used as a derogatory term towards gay men and drag queens. As both, I personally love the pansy, which also symbolises ‘passion’. The boa represents lavender, which has been used for gay men and lesbians since at least the 1920s (e.g lavender marriages and the Lavender Menace resistance movement) and also symbolises ‘devotion’.

Nikki Sullivan

Syphilis, Gown

As a researcher interested in social history and working in sexual health I wanted to create a garment that documents the role that botanical remedies have played in the treatment of syphilis. Prior to the invention of antibiotics, mercury was the most common treatment, and this is reflected in the fabric of the gown. However, across the centuries, and in diverse geographic locations, plants of many kinds have been used to treat syphilitic symptoms such as rashes, fever, jaundice, and so on. Some of these are embroidered and appliquéd on the skirt of this gown. The underdress features crystal pustules that symbolise both the pleasures and dangers of sex.

Maple Pangaro

Vines, Swirl Dress

I used a similar technique that I heard the architect Antoni Gaudi used for some of his buildings – I hung some fake vines I purchased long ago, and photographed them. Accidently, the vines formed a shape of a human torso, and a vaguely S-shaped pattern emerged from the leaves, inspiring the dress.

The dress is made from a stretch jersey cotton fabric in a beautiful emerald green colour. When I did my design fashion illustrations, I was drawn to the colour that I used. This certain green colour is both elegant and casual.