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HOW THE "ANKLET" 

 BOUQUET MAKES GOOD 



The latest creation in cut flower arrangements is the so-called anklet 

 bouqiirct, conceived either by a soubrette or a florist who was trying to do 

 something ''different." While possessing, perhaps, certain attractions for 

 persons with overweening desire for the conspicuous, the only real use for 

 the idea lies in its advertising possibilities. 



HOUGH itself no glittering 

 success, the tale of the 

 tango bouquet never will 

 be told of its unregenerate 

 progeny, the anklet, nick- 

 named from bracelet. The 

 reason is that while a flo- 

 rist might with perfect 

 propriety recommend to 

 his most discriminating 

 customers the trial of one of the vari- 

 ous forms of shoulder or arm bouquet, 

 he would be a most rash, thoughtless 

 and undeserving retailer who would 

 even suggest that a lady tie flowers on 

 her leg — no matter how near the shoe! 

 The anklet bouquet is a freak; it 

 makes a dandy ad, under certain cir- 

 cumstances, but that is as far as it 

 goes. It will make people talk, but it 

 never can be sold, except, perhaps, now 

 and then for stage use. 



How It Happened. 



The genesis of the anklet bouquet is 

 perfectly simple. When the new close- 

 position dances came 

 in they proved de- 

 structive of the flow- 

 ers that formerly 

 were sold in such 

 large quantities, 

 made up in bouquets 

 for the corsage. Not 

 only were the flowers 

 crushed, but the cos- 

 tumes were soiled. 

 An up-to-date florist, 

 who did not intend 

 to sit passive and 

 watch a passing fad 

 cut a slice off his 

 profits, got busy and 

 devised a way of off- 

 setting his losses. The 

 result was the so- 

 called tango bouquet, 

 much advertised and, 

 for a time, a hit. As 

 most florists know, 

 the tango bouquet 

 was worn over the 

 shoulder, around the 

 neck, or on the arm, 

 and therefore was not 

 subject to the hard 

 knocks the corsage 

 bouquet received. Af- 

 ter The Review illus- 

 trated some of these 

 bouquets in one of its 

 leading articles, hun- 

 dreds of florists tried 

 them and last season 

 many were sold in 



place of corsage bouquets, but it is 

 probable that the demand for them 

 today is comparatively insignificant. 



Making Talk. 



In the attempt to elaborate the tango 

 bouquet many freak ideas were 'de- 

 veloped — some of them good for adver- 

 tising purposes, but all of them short- 

 lived. It was inevitable that someone 

 should conceive the notion of decorat- 

 ing the dancers' feet. Of course, as a 

 novelty the anklet bouquet is interest- 

 ing, but it is quite plain that it never 

 will have any real possibilities so far as 

 sales are concerned. The burlesque or 

 musical-comedy queen may adorn her 

 ankle with flowers to furnish material 

 for her press agent, and the anklet 

 bouquet occasionally may be reported 

 as seen at the barbers' ball, but it sel- 

 dom if ever will be in evidence at the 

 tango tea or debutantes' cotillion. 



There is a way, however, in which 

 the anklet bouquet can be turned to 

 good account — in advertising. Unpala- 



Style Show Week Window with Anklet Bouquet oa Living Model. 



table as the fact may be, the truth is 

 that the commendable commonplaces 

 seldom cause comment — it is the unu- 

 sual, the odd, the fantastic, the bizarre 

 that sets the tongues a wagging. That 

 is the use of the anklet bouquet. One 

 wouldn't offer it as the example by 

 which his taste or discrimination was 

 to be judged, but for a show window 

 demonstration during the county fair 

 or in fashion week it would be the 

 means of pulling the crowd away from 

 the drug store window with its woman 

 combing her wonderful hair amid bot- 

 tles of the elixir; it even would win 

 the walkers from the grocer's sidewalk 

 kiosk where the well-known colored 

 gentleman in cook's attire hands out 

 samples of corn flakes — and as for 

 creating talk, these others would not be 

 one, two, three. 



In tlie Window. 



It was in such a manner that C. W. 

 Crum employed the anklet bouquet at 

 the Des Moines store of U. L. Craw- 

 ford and to say he 

 made a hit is putting 

 it mildly. He em- 

 ployed a model to 

 pose in the window 

 and supplied her pho- 

 tograph, with her 

 flowers, to the local 

 papers. He got col- 

 u m n 8 of publicity 

 and made his style 

 show window the talk 

 of the town. Every- 

 body came to see the 

 lady with flowers on 

 her ankle. 



Of course Mr. Crum 

 did not make the mis- 

 take of showing noth- 

 ing more salable than 

 the anklet bouquet. 

 There were many 

 conservative, recom- 

 mendable things 

 there to catch the 

 eye of the spectator. 

 Corsage bouquets, 

 brides' bouquets, 

 ferns, baskets, cut 

 flowers — ^^all that the 

 window could artis- 

 tically contain was 

 on display, and if 

 "Once a customer, 

 always a customer" 

 is the motto at the 

 Crawford store, the 

 sales record at the 

 end of the year 



