Who’d have thought a few artfully placed folds of fabric could induce such joy? The corsage is back – again – and we couldn’t be more thrilled.
As you well know, pinning fabric flowers to one’s clothing is nothing new, people have been doing it for over a century. And for good reason, the corsage (by which I mean a three-dimensional fabric flower, not the real posies historically worn on the bodice and in more recent times, the wrist) has the power to transform an existing outfit without buying new – something that 1920s, Depression-era fashion lovers understood all too well.
‘The corsage was something which could be moved from one outfit to another – or even to your hat,’ says 20th century fashion historian, dealer and collector, Liz Eggleston. ‘In an era when people might only have had a handful of garments, you could expand your repertoire with some relatively inexpensive fabric flowers.’
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Ever since they were introduced as an accessory in the 18th Century, we've seen the ordinary made extraordinary, with the addition of a corsage.
‘My favourite corsage moment of [the 1920s] is in the Clara Bow film It,' Eggleston tells ELLE UK, 'where she cuts the neckline and sleeves from a plain day dress to transform it into an evening dress. But the flourish which makes it work is that she merrily rips the flowers from a new hat and pins them to the hip of her dress.’
And the nifty styling trick has kept on making appearances in our wardrobes.
In the early 2000s, Sex and the City costume designer Patricia Field accessorised Carrie Bradshaw by pinning corsages to simple cotton tanks and dresses.
Many credit Alessandro Michele – former Creative Director at Gucci and the king of eclecticism – with the flower pin’s recent resurgence. He added supersized blooms to collars in his first collection for the house in 2015; today, giant lilies occupy silken Gucci lapels.
Saint Laurent sent blousy, oversized flowers pinned to the lapels of classic leather jackets and pea coats in their Autumn/Winter 2023 show. In Prada’s Spring/Summer 2023 collection, casual jersey dresses were enlivened by a liberal smattering of appliquéd satin blooms.
Chanel offers a chic interpretation of the trend for Autumn/Winter ‘23. One hundred years after Coco Chanel first pinned a camellia upon a chiffon dress, the house staged an entire show around its floral emblem. Coats, tops and jackets in leather, wool and tweed were accompanied by coordinating, 3D camellias.
Corsage-wearing has been championed by the Copenhagen street-style set for several years. Petal proponent Pernille Rosenkilde owns various satin roses and camellias by Danish brand Damernes Magasin, which she wears in a trio at her neck, or solo, attached to the waistband of a By Malene Birger fuzzy knitted skirt. She is also the proud owner of that Sonia Rykiel striped, corsage-fronted jumper – yes, the one that Carrie wears in Paris, in the penultimate episode of Sex and the City – which the designer has re-released in coral and pink. At Copenhagen-based brand Saks Potts, flowers have appeared in the last three collections – from striped roses to match cotton-poplin shirts, to metallic leather camellias.
Elsewhere in the world, cool girls are corsage-ing. New York-based fashion historian Ruby Redstone gets hers from long-standing Manhattan haberdashery, M&J Trimmings (the London equivalents of which include Soho’s MacCulloch & Wallis and Marylebone’s V V Rouleaux) and adds them to everything from 1940s souvenir pyjama tops to mod-striped dresses. For her birthday outfit this year, ELLE UK’s own Digital Fashion Editor Daisy Murray chose a frothy, coral-red carnation she sourced from Etsy to add colour to her Ganni denim blazer and Marques Almeida, raw-hem dress.
Model and knitwear designer Ella Emhoff made a case for knitted corsages when she wore one of her own designs at Paris Fashion Week. Not very crafty? Do like London-based influencer Susie Garvie and plump for one of Sara Bubamara’s made-to-order, crochet flower necklaces in a colour of your choice.
When writing about anything flower-related that might constitute a trend, I can’t help but think of the immortal line Miranda Priestly delivers in the 2006 film, The Devil Wears Prada: ‘Florals? For Spring? Groundbreaking.’ If the corsage can inspire us to shop our own wardrobes, it just might be.
Shop The Corsage Trend Now
HAI Edith Bag
Jeff Gallano Vintage Bias Cut Gown
Chanel 1980s Silk Camellia Pin Brooch
£325.99
Magda Butrym Appliquéd Silk-organza And Satin Mini Dress
Mango Maxi flower heeled sandal
