Boutonniere

[naturlaut]

I am interested in classic boutonnieres, as those worn in the old films by Astaire and the likes. Where in the world can I find these? Or should I just speak to my florist about it? If I were to use fresh flower, how long can they stay fresh?

[manton]

99.9% of boutonnières worn in the old films and illustrations were single flowers. They tucked the stem through their lapel buttonhole, and then through a little silk loop keeper on the underside of the lapel, below the buttonhole.

The most popular flower by far was the carnation. Red, white, pink, and yellow were favored colors, in declining order of popularity. Another popular flower was the blue cornflower, but it is rarer and also seasonal. Very, very spiffy. Other flowers were also seen, but I don't think looked quite so elegant.

You can find carnations at almost any florist. In New York, most will sell a single carnation to a passing gent for $1. Fresh, of course. Just break off most of the stem (you only need an inch or two at most) and put it through your buttonhole. A fresh flower will easily last one day, maybe longer if you put it in water when you get home.

I advise you to shun over-wrought florist creations. They look silly, even at weddings -- vastly inferior to the single flower. An iron rule: if it must be pinned to your lapel, if you can't wear it just using your buttonhole and keeper, don't wear it all.

[dopey]

From my own experience, a fresh carnation will easily last a day.

That said, I rarely ever wear them. The occasions when I do are largely confined to when one of my daughters picks a flower for me (sometimes, though, I get a weed) or when I might pluck one out of a floral arrangement at a wedding or other party for fun.

The book The Boutonniere: Style in One's Lapel discusses boutonnieres at perhaps more length than they deserve but contains beautiful illustrations.
In another life, I will give as much consideration to the flower in my lapel as the stylists do in the last section of the book. For now, I pretty much ignore the subject.

The book does provide some interesting answers to your question about preparing boutonnieres with some nice examples. Apparently, there are London florists that still rise early to prepare trays of boutonnieres for their regular customers. The most popular type seems to be a doubled carnation, where one carnation is opened and another is stuffed inside it, making what looks like a peony. A cardboard disk is placed behind the bloom to support it and then the stems are wrapped tightly in paper so they can be neatly tucked through and behind the buttonhole. I believe it has a name, but I can’t recall what it is.

Sorry that my memory is a bit fuzzy about this. Beautiful as this book is, it has not been promoted past library borrowing and I can’t look up the specific information for you.

[couch]

The book on boutonnieres dopey reviews is authored by the chairman of Brioni and available at their New York City stores. They sent me a copy.

[dopey]

The book on boutonnieres dopey reviews is authored by the chairman of Brioni and available at their New York City stores. They sent me a copy.

couch:

I have read your book reviews. I know your book reviews. Couch, mine was no book review.

[Will]

Somewhere in that book it says that carnations and cornflowers are the only types that will last the day without water.

I grow them now so I'm not dependent on florists who, in San Francisco, don't tend to stock carnations.

[Costi]

I know gardenias to be a classic boutonniere flower - particularly in Italy. It also gives off a discreet and pleasant fragrance. I think it lasts a day without water, too (never worn one, though - they are quite difficult to grow and thus relatively rare in dryer clmates).


Congratulations for cultivating your own boutonniere flowers, Will - I think a fresh flower every morning in your lapel is a great start for the day. What a pitty boutonnieres have fallen into disuse, like so many fine things... I am in favour of reviving these good habbits!

[oldog/oldtrix]

Funny, but I never think about a boutonniere except for black tie. And wearing one with a splendid DB dinner jacket with satin faced lapels taught me to accept only grosgrain facings thereafter. Something from the rose petals, I assume the oils, permanently marred the left lapel. True, I was probably the only one who could see the damage, but I could see it ever after, even when the jacket was stored away under a full length dust cover between wearings.

It’s funny that I don’t think about these joyful expressions of style routinely, as the person who most influenced and instructed me on matters sartorial, my grandfather, made three stops on his way to work (his men’s shop) six mornings a week for as long as I knew him until the last week of his life. First stop, his barber for a professional shave; second stop, the café for breakfast with his merchant cronies; and third stop, his friend the florist for a fresh flower.

Thanks for reminding me of those times, forty and more years ago. At work, a boutonniere might be a tad over the top for a government trial lawyer who already is thought by some to be pretentiously attired. But I am to be a guest at a non-black tie wedding next weekend, and I’ll be damned if I won’t have a flower in the lapel of my suit.