From an old encyclopedia: the boutonnière
The fortunate and rarely found owners of a multi-volume encyclopedia know the pleasure of sinking into old volumes and acquiring the knowledge of past times. Thus, the inclined reader will find a small history of the artificial flower - and thus the boutonnière - in the third volume of Meyer's Great Conversation Encyclopedia (Leipzig, 1905) on pages 73-74. But everything in due order.
Schiphol Airport: Heinz Rühmann with charming reception committee and boutonnière
In the picture, Heinz Rühmann shows us that a life with Boutonnière can be very entertaining. But back to the year 1905. From various fabrics, deceptively real imitations of natural flowers can be made: "One makes the fabrics (silk, jacquard, batiste, English leather, satin, percale, taffeta) smooth like wax by satinizing and also gives them a finish of gelatin and starch paste on the back."
Pansy: hand-dyed silk flower and matching die
The impressions made with punch tools (flower, small flower punch) are dyed, dried, and then roasted on a bran cushion or a rubber plate with heated instruments, i.e., provided with curvature, veining, etc. For this purpose, stamps are used that are galvanoplastically true to the natural leaves.
"Side view: the handcrafted details of our salmon-colored Poppy made of silk"
"Dust threads are made from repeatedly dipped silk and cotton threads in glue solution and glued grains of sand. The stems consist of wrapped wire." This is how the diligent flower makers in the Saxon Switzerland still do it today - creating the beautiful and unique boutonnière flowers (Boutonnières) that adorn the lapel buttonhole of gentlemen with special taste. Too beautiful to be worn exclusively by the groom as a lapel flower at the wedding.
From the buttonhole flowers made of straw, paper & co.
A touch of fried egg and, exceptionally, not at all natural: our flat daffodil made of silk.
"Plastic and other synthetic materials are completely omitted from our old lexicon. Probably because they had not yet been invented at that time - but also otherwise negligible. Straw flowers, cereal ears, and grasses are taken from nature and are only conditionally suitable for embellishing the buttonhole as a men's accessory."
London: Mr. James L. Richardson with our red carnation in the lapel of his white dinner jacket.
Crochet flowers are possible, but dispensable. Furthermore, there are buttonhole flowers made from wood shavings, feathers, and paper. Please refrain from that. Just like wax flowers or flowers made from bread dough and rubber mass. Yes, all of that existed according to the lexicon in 1905 - but we definitely do not want to see that in the buttonhole. Additionally, there were Italian flowers made from the cocoons of silkworms. We would rather not imagine that in more detail either. Very different, but very delicate, are buttonhole flowers made from porcelain or Murano glass. Both still exist today (or again). Note: Shards are famously said to bring good luck.
Schiphol Airport again: Terry-Thomas as always elegant and with a boutonnière (carnation)
A boutonnière made of silk is significantly more "flowery" and natural. Also a good choice for the groom at the wedding - and definitely more elegant than overloaded wedding bouquets on the lapel. Here in the picture, the always elegant Terry-Thomas shows us how naturally such a silk boutonnière can also be worn in everyday life and at public appearances. Indestructible classic: the carnation in the buttonhole.
Who invented the boutonnière?
Boutonnière production: historical punch dies for silk flowers in the archive
Difficult to answer. According to Pliny, as our old lexicon states, the use of wreaths made of artificial flowers was introduced from Egypt to Greece around 350 BC. Elegant Roman women wore perfumed flowers made of papyrus and silk (Aha!). In China, in the 3rd century, they used corsages made of feathers and dyed silk.
"Today, recipes that are up to a hundred years old are used to dye the silk of our buttonhole flowers."
And in the Middle Ages, Spanish and Italian monasteries made flowers for altar decoration from batiste, cocoons, gauze, and silk. Later, production shifted to the area around Lyon, and it increasingly focused on fashion flowers for the Parisian high society. Ladies and gentlemen. The buttonholes of gentlemen became more colorful and daring. "In 1770, a Swiss invented a machine that could cut 6–8 petals at once, and soon after, matrices were applied."
Silk flowers from Saxony in the gentleman's buttonhole
Earlier as today: here everything is done with calm and handwork.
"Under the Empire and the Restoration, the fabrication of artificial flowers made great progress, but the current [We find ourselves with our lexicon in the year 1905, the heyday of artificial flower production, author's note] completion and expansion of flower making was only achieved through the division of labor."
Finely crafted spring messengers: our silk freesias for the elegant lapel
"Almost only Germany competes with France, where flower making was established by Magdalene Bienert in Nixdorf about 80 years ago and flourished at the Bohemian-Saxon border around Sebnitz, Neustadt, Rumburg, Schluckenau [Where is that, please?]. Customs conditions later prompted the relocation of the young industry to Sebnitz, Hertigswalde, Burkersdorf, Neustadt, etc."
Tradition: We have our silk boutonnieres made at a historic site in the Saxon Switzerland.
"The main centers of manufacturing in Germany are now [that is, 1905] Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden, Munich, where completely equivalent items are supplied from France. England supplies a lot, but very few tasteful artificial flowers." However, the blog author of today finds the nicer suits.
Joost Bom with our boutonnière Chocolate Flower in the buttonhole
Literature:
- The production of artificial flowers and plants made of fabric and paper (Vienna, 1890, 2 volumes)
- Ballerini, The Manufacture of Artificial Flowers (Weimar, 1898) Journal for Artificial Flowers etc. (Vienna, from 1894)
- Blanchon, The Industry of Artificial Flowers and Preserved Flowers (from 1899)
- Bruno Schier, The Artificial Flower from Antiquity to the Present (1957)
- Tione Mittl-Raht, History of Silk Flowers (1983)
- Umberto Angeloni, The Boutonniere - Style in One's Lapel (2000)
- Fritz Kredel, Glass Flowers from the Ware Collection in the Botanical Museum of Harvard University: Insect Pollination Series (New York: Harcourt, Brace & Company, 1940)
- Laere, L. de, Complete Treatise on the Art of Making Artificial Flowers. (Paris, Goubaud and Brussels, Bruylant-Christophe, ca. 1890)
- Manfred Schober, Gerhard Döring, The Sebnitz Art Flower: The History of a Craft in the Sign of Fashion (Verlag der Kunst Dresden, 1994)
- Kaufmann, Marie, Latest Complete Guide to Self-Teaching in the Making of Paper Flowers. (M. Kaufmann Vienna, I. Herrengasse 6. Self-Production and Stock of All Flower Components, 1898)
- Anna Schlehuber, Artificial Flower Creation According to the Realm of Nature and Fantasy (Kaufbeuren, 1856) | Link to e-Book
Author: Andreas Thenhaus
Those: Meyers Great Conversation Lexicon, Volume 3. Leipzig 1905, pp. 73-74
Photos: National Archive, Eric Koch/Anefo, Sven Höhne, René Gaens, Jeordy Raines, Herr von Welt
Models: James L. Richardson, Joost Bom
More on the topic:
Boutonnière - the buttonhole flower in close range
