Style & Life
Chelsea Flower Show
Article By Sahara .
May 28, 2017
Enter through the blooming gates of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and be transported to the far-flung climes of China, Malta, Japan and Mexico. Or stick close to home by visiting native gardens evoking the Yorkshire coast, Norfolk marshes and Berkshire’s heathland.
-
Sahara has always looked to nature – at home and away – for inspiration. So this year, we sent a member of our HQ team to the Flower Show to unearth fresh inspiration for collections to come.
Highlights included the Chengdu Silk Road Garden, awash in brilliant pink and red azaleas and peonies, with a dramatic ‘Silk Road’ bridge linking various elements of the garden – complete with giant costume pandas! And designer Sarah Eberle’s Barcelona-inspired garden, showcasing mosaics reminiscent of Spanish architect, Antoni Gaudi, and flanked with fiery Flamenco dancers and guitarists. But our personal favourite was the ‘zoo’ of fuzzy grass animals parading around the gardens.
Not only is the Flower Show the world’s biggest gardening event, dating back to 1804, it’s also the perfect place to spy the best springtime looks, including the obligatory avant garde floral fashion. This year it was a pair of walking trees and a bearded man on stilts decked out in a suit of blooms.
So if you’re planning to visit the show and want something a bit more practical to wear, what should you choose? We say avoid the obvious floral print (why even try to upstage the setting?) and opt for something ‘bloom-inspired’ like our bold pink, citrus and aqua linen, or our lush, emerald green tops. Or take a page from Dame Judi Dench (a long-time Sahara advocate), who embraced the understated elegance of summer neutrals in slim white trousers and a simple white top, layered beneath a natural hued shirt dress.