“Slavic Beauty” A Botanical Beauty Project | The Art of Wearable Flowers
Culture is in all of us, a reminder of who we are and where we come from, as well as the traditions we keep for they always bring us joy. I wanted to incorporate more cultural pieces into my work to show another part of my heritage while creating art. As part of my series The Art of Wearable Flowers, we created a project called “Slavic Beauty” which focuses on Ukrainian and Russian culture. The project began with planning and designing and slowly it bloomed into the gorgeous series that was envisioned. Showing that tradition can be captured in a photograph to last forever.
Floral Portrait Photography | Wearable Flowers
Florist | Iryna Shulzhenko
Photo by | Yuliya Panchenko
Most projects have a main piece that brings it all together, giving the design structure and style. For this project I designed a headdress piece to represent a traditional kokoshnik made entirely of natural flowers. In the old days, female heads were decorated with kokoshnik headpieces that were wide and tall. And though kokoshnik pieces were not made of flowers, this was my way of incorporating the tradition into the art I create. Putting in hours of work was worth it as I was designing something that was personal and part of Slavic history. The wearable piece was very difficult to make because of its size and the time it took to add each individual flower in a coherent flow of color. Making the end result a gorgeous and unique fashionable art piece.
As most designs go, the presentation is important and should always match the client and/or model. For this series we picked a gorgeous model, Tabitha, whose stunning blue eyes and strong gaze added grace and beauty to the overall look. The reds and oranges of the floral kokoshnik brought warm tones to life and made a gorgeous contrast. Though large in size, the headdress was not overly heavy and was worn with ease. For me it’s important to create fashion
Florist: Iryna Shulzhenko
Photographer: Yuliya Panchenko
Model : Tabitha
Makeup Artist: Tabitha
Videographer: Eliar Tabrizi
