Femmes by Fleurs de Villes at Hudson Yards

This weekend I chanced upon some breathtaking floral mannequins celebrating some incredibly significant women at Hudson Yards. The last time I saw mannequins that elevated flowers to this kind of level was at the Haarlem flower parade in the Netherlands many many years ago, and I am so thrilled to have chanced upon this stateside this time.

An exhibit that runs from Oct 7 – 16, 2022, Femmes is an exhibit of Floral Mannequins celebrating Significant Women through the ages in Hudson Yards, NYC.

The pictures below do not do any of these floral mannequins justice, the attention to detail in recreating each of the outfits that is shown on the information panel is just beyond amazing. I was following a family that was seeing these before me, and the granddaughter kept covering the names of who each mannequin represented for the grandfather to guess, and he got most of them right! This was really impressive as I learnt about a couple of the more historical women as we went along, although I was familiar with almost all once I saw the names.

This was Lady Gaga, and I can totally picture her wearing this gown made of flowers! Hers was the largest floral mannequin of them all, but to be fair so was the gown that was being copied for this mannequin as you can see from the picture below.

Here is Serena Williams, tennis racquet and all. The grandfather I was following accurately guessed this was one of the Williams sisters. And don’t miss her shoes!

Here is Queen Elizabeth II. looking regal as she always did.

This one was Gloria Vanderbilt, her sense of fashion shines through, and the designers did such a great job of her dress and her jacket.

Here is Bette Midler, you can see the gown that was recreated in the picture next to her mannequin.

Here is Jennifer Lopez, her floral dress is such a great reflection of the one she wore!

Here is Chita Rivera lighting up Hudson Yards –

And this is Frida Kahlo, her eyebrows are a dead giveaway.

For all the Broadway lovers out there, here is Fanny Brice from Funny Girl, Playbill and all –

This is Eleavor Roosevelt, standing tall at the start of the Mannequin Parade behind here –

Here is Leontyne Price, the first African American soprano to receive international acclaim. The grandfather I was following guessed who this was in a second!

Here is Edith Wharton, one of America’s greatest writers –

Vera Wang in a fabulous gown that she created, that was faithfully recreated for this mannequin –

Here is Malala Yousafzai recognizable in her signature traditional outfit –

Here’s Billie Holiday looking specacular in her red gown –

And last but not least, here is Bella Azbug, a leader of the Women’s movement, who the grandfather recognized right away, and confirmed this was a great representation of her, microphone and all –

It was a great weekend spent with all these Femmes of significance from over the years. But before I end, here are some of the floral floats I saw at the Haarlem Flower Parade in the Netherlands all those years ago –

#gottalovenewyork