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Constance Spry and the Fashion for Flowers review – everyday beauty in full bloom
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The fashion for flowers: Constance Spry
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The floral and the classical
Whether or not you’re a fan of Coronation Chicken, it’s hard not to admire the woman credited with inventing it. With ‘Constance Spry and the Fashion for Flowers’ (17 May–26 September), the
Garden Museum celebrates a figure with as many unexpected facets as that curious dish has ingredients. I’m looking forward to seeing some of Spry’s exuberant and unusual floral arrangements recreated (kale and artichoke extravaganzas, Instagrammers? Spry got there first), and discovering more about this one-time Hackney headmistress who provided blooms for the Queen’s coronation and inspiration for the floral paintings of her romantic partner, Gluck.
Morning glory arrangement by Constance Spry (around 1930) Photo: Cowderoy & Moss Ltd; RHS Lindley Collections
It is not exactly a story of rags to riches, but Constance Spry, the daughter of a railway clerk, reached the pinnacle of society through trade and art. An exhibition at London’s Garden Museum of around 100 photographs, personal items and artefacts never before exhibited will tell the story of one of the 20th century’s most colourful and influential florists.
Spry was trained in bacteriology and sanitary inspection but in 1921 she became principal of a day school in London’s Hackney where poverty and deprivation were rife. Consequently, her true metier came late. It was not until she reached her early 40s that Spry gave up teaching and opened a shop, called Flower Decoration, in 1929. Her first formal patron was Granada Cinemas but it was her daring arrangements of hedgerow flowers in the window of the royal perfumer Atkinsons of New Bond Street