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TKI© 



MEnr 



iVERYBODY knows what the 

 tango did to the trade — it 

 brought the beaux so close 

 to the bouquets ^he flowers, 

 and then the florists, got 

 hurt. 



The new style dances cut 

 a big hole in the business of the city 

 florists. There are plenty of stores that, 

 during the social season, send out, each 

 afternoon, dozens and dozens of corsage 

 bouquets. Still send them out, but 

 fewer last season than in recent yearS; 

 for one by one the dancers 

 passed them up. But now 

 the tide is turning. 



With the multiplication 

 of material fqiv*orsage bou- 

 quets, the sale for this class 

 of cut flower arrangement 

 increased tremendously. 

 With a variety of flowers 

 to match any costume, it 

 got so that- corsage bou- 

 quets were olie of the most 

 important items for city , 

 retailers who cater to the 

 high class trade. Many of 

 the ladies on their lists 

 never went out of an even- 

 ing without fiowers. 



How Orders .Dwindled. 



Then came-a sudden fall- 

 ing off in the orders for 

 flowers for evening wear. 

 The cheaper corsages for 

 afternoon wear still were 

 selling as well as ever, but 

 the popularity of flowers 

 for evening wear suddenly 

 was on the waiie. It par- 

 ticularly affected the de- 

 mand for cattleyas. 



One retailer who was at 

 a loss to explain the loss 

 of business made bold to 

 ask one of his customers, 

 who was a dancing man. 

 why he no longer ordered 

 bouquets for his wife. The 

 answer was: 



"Why! it is awfully 

 awkward. If I dance, I 

 want to dance right, but 

 the lady screams, 'Look out 

 for my flowefs! ' Now, I 

 would much rather dance 

 and know that I am danc- 

 ing these new: dances right, 

 instead of taking care that 

 I do not squeeze some 

 flowers. So my wife agrees 

 that she wiU wear her 

 flowers at times we are not going to 

 dances. * ' 



And that was absolutely all there 

 was to it. "People simply were tired 

 spaying a dollar or more apiece for 

 orchids to either be careful or smash 

 them up. 



The new olose style of dancing had 

 brought the cli&sge. 



Your up-to-date florist doesn't sit 



passively and watch some passing fad 

 cut a hole in his business^he gets busy 

 devising ways and means of holding 

 the trade, getting up something new 

 and novel to turn the whim of the 

 moment into a feeder of the cash 

 register. 



The New Ideas. ' 



So it came about that last season 

 we began to read in the society columns 

 about the new style of bouquet that 

 Miss So and So wore to Mrs. Whatye- 



A Device for Keeping the Beau Away from the Bouquet. 



macalUt's dinner dance. Somebody 

 usually gave the new bouquet a name. 

 And names count for a lot. If they 

 have the right hook, they catch on — 

 the barb clings in the memory. 



First it was the bunny hug bouquet — 

 that was a good one. The only trouble 

 was the name was better than the 

 bouquet. The flowers were placed with 

 the stems withia one of the little plush 



or fur-covered figures of u rabbit that 

 the novelty stores sell for children's 

 party favors; ribbons were attached 

 for hanging the bouquet from the 

 dancer's arm. With the center of grav- 

 ity taken into consideration, so that 

 the bouquet would hang right side up, 

 the arrangement had some vogue with 

 those who tried it, but its use did.-not 

 spread over the country as happens 

 when a real success is achieved. ;/ 



Then an ingenious florist conceived a 

 corsage arrangement that he called the 

 tango because of its floppi- 

 ness — he put some light 

 steel spring wires in the 

 center of his bunch after 

 having tied on the ends 

 such small flowers as valley 

 or sweet peas, using narrow 

 ribbon for bows and for 

 wrapping the wire where 

 it might show. This was 

 good, but if the lady wore 

 the bouquet too low it was 

 in the same danger as cor- 

 sa^s made in the ordinary 

 manner. It also was tried 

 hung from the arm, but the 

 tango bouquet made no hit 

 until a florist here and 

 there began fashioning the 

 flowers so they could be 

 worn high, out of the way 

 of the dancers. 



Flowers for Shoulders. 



Perhaps it was the adver- 

 tising that made it go, for 

 when Miss Wilson appeared 

 at a White House dancing 

 party last season with her 

 flowers on her shoulder they 

 got a notice in practically 

 every newspaper that takes 

 the Associated Press report. 

 Now one begins to see 

 flowers on the ladies ' shoul- 

 ders almost everywhere one 

 goes — and they never fail 

 to attract attention, which 

 is a good thing for florists. 

 With many minds busy 

 with the problem of evolv- 

 ing flowers for the shoul- 

 ders, something good is sure 

 to result. Max Schling got 

 his idea of flowers on both 

 shoulders from seeing a 

 clerk throw a spray of fine 

 Sprengeri around her neck 

 — and worked out the ar- 

 rangements shown in the 

 accompanying illustrations. 

 At first these light spray arrange- 

 ments were used only for the tango, 

 and therefore came to be known as 

 tkngo bouquets, but soon they were 

 employed for other social affairs, any- 

 where that the gown is cut to leave 

 the shoulders and neck free; in many 

 instances the heavier part of the bou- 

 quet on one side, with just a little 

 spray peeping over the other tdionlder, 



