Floral Appliqué is the Surprising Fashion Trend of the 2020s
- Kate
- 1 hour ago
- 6 min read
We are halfway through the decade, and one of the most surprising fashion trends is the resurgence of floral appliqués. Embroidered flowers are far from a novel concept in fashion. Florals are a staple of modern design and have deep roots in folk and historic clothing, however their popularity like all fashion elements, ebb and flow with the times. Floral appliqués gained significant traction during the "flower power" era of the 1960s and 70s, experienced a revival in the 90s, and have now returned to prominence once more.
The decade started with Oscar de la Renta’s iconic dress, inspired by the intricate art of pressed flowers. When Taylor Swift famously wore the dress, it catapulted the trend into mainstream consciousness. Soon after, a blend of red carpet and bridal fashion converged to a mass-market of floral appliqués. This trend aligns perfectly with the growing public desire for clothing that feels artisanal and matches the aesthetics of romanticism. These styles celebrate time-consuming craftsmanship and evoke an air of quiet garden parties in a decade that has started with a global pandemic and involved much political turmoil.
Part 1: The Beginning
While florals were part of the 2020 runway looks, I consider the "floral appliqué" trend to have fully materialized when Taylor Swift wore Oscar de la Renta floral-embroidered tulle minidress to the 63rd annual Grammy Awards in March 2021.
The dress was from Oscar de la Renta's Fall 2021 Read-to-Wear collection (Vogue / WWD). The collection features a lot of different embellishments, from cut-outs, pleats, lace, multiple bows, bold patterns, beaded flowers, and beaded bows. The embroidered floral appliqué mini-dress was one of just many designs from Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia. For that specific dress, the designers at Oscar de la Renta worked with a pressed flower collage artist, Tricia Paoluccio. The dress retailed for $8,990.
Per a V Magazine report, the fashion duo started pressing flowers a “year before we went into lockdown” and aimed to bring the line to life for September, before realizing the process of pressing flowers took much longer than anticipated. That’s precisely when they hired Paoluccio to help.
The collection was showcased digitally on February 23, 2021, as part of New York Fashion Week due to the COVID-19 restrictions. Kim and Garcia told Harper's Bazaar that they wanted the collection to be fun, something to be excited about, because of the hardship of the pandemic. Of course, the lockdown shifted a lot of fashion to be more casual because large indoor events could not occur, so the designers focused on more casual events like outdoor parties. Grazia Magazine. That was a prescient move as many formal events like the Academy Awards and Grammys were held partially or entirely outdoors.
Just a few weeks off the runway the dress then showed up on the red carpet on one of the most famous celebrities of the decade. In addition to being fun yet not overly formal, the dress matched the aesthetic of Taylor Swift's folk album aesthetic and the public's fascination with small cottage living during the lockdown (such as the rise of sourdough baking content). The dress was a massive success, and with Swift's win of Best Album, many people saw the dress who may not have paid attention to the runway. More importantly, Swift's fans saw the dress and then tried to copy it. It's quite common for her fans to take fashion queues from Swift, and with her worldwide Eras tour with the implicit dress code to be in an album's aesthetic, Swift spawned many people with a desire to dress in her floral appliqué dress. The trend of recreation has continued long after Taylor Swift wore the dress on the red carpet, for instance this designer sells a duster version.
Part 2: Wedding Dress Trends
Floral appliqué wedding dresses have become a prominent trend in bridal fashion. The 3D floral elements are more whimsical than lace, yet also add texture and dimension to traditional silhouettes. This trend appeals to a bride who wants some color or novelty while still having a classic silhouette.
"Nessia" wedding dress from Mira Zwillinger, featuring 3D flower decorations (link 1, link 2)
Dress from MacDugal, featuring flower embellishments (link)
"Wonder" wedding dress from Monique Lhuillier, featuring colorful appliqués (link 1, link 2)
This designer produces quite a few colorfully embellished floral gowns.
Boheme Collection from Leah da Gloria, featuring prominent 3D florals (link 1, link 2)
Actress Rebecca Hall wore a bridal dress to the Met Gala 2024. The romantic lilac silk organza bridal gown was designed by New York designer Danielle Frankel. The "Mariela" wedding dress features hand painted florals in a watercolor effect that degrade as they go up the body, and Hall took it a step further with florals also painted on her body that started to disappear. While not an appliqué, this dress is the bridge between the floral bridal trend and the floral forward theme for the Met Gala.
Part 3: Met Gala 2024
The trend in fashion history books with the 2024 Met Gala theme of "The Garden of Time," inspired by a 1962 short story by J.G. Ballard which features a flower garden. Designers like Thom Browne, who rarely work with anything even close to a floral pattern, designed custom gowns with flower appliqués to fit the theme.
Vogue editor Anna Wintour wore a custom Loewe designed by Jonathan Anderson, influenced by a Charles Frederick Worth evening cape and decorated with tulip bouquets. Ayo Edebiri also wore a custom floral lace dress from Loewe. Interestingly, Anderson's 2024 collection was really light on applique and had no florals but the collection after this event for 2025 was full of florals. Maybe being picked to design for the Anna Wintour and the theme of the Gala influenced that next collection.
Of course, this theme was the time to shine for fashion houses whose signature includes florals.
Designer Tory Burch appeared wore a custom dress from Sarah Burton’s Spring/Summer 2018 collection for Alexander McQueen. She first wore the dress to her November 2018 wedding to her third husband in Pierre-Yves Roussel, the former chairman and CEO of LVMH. The dress features hand-embroidered silk wildflowers, a deconstructed corset, and a raw tulle hem.
Actress Amanda Seyfried wore a silver dress with floral appliqués from Prada. This gown was inspired by Prada's Spring 2009 collection, which featured floral appliqués and crushed metallics dresses with a scoop neckline. The look was sustainable as it was made from leftover deadstock. It's likely the silhouette and hair was influenced by scoop neckline Lanvin Robe de Style dresses popular during Josephine Baker's time.
Golfer Nelly Korda wore a dress from Oscar de la Renta with hand-embroidered poppy blooms that retailed for $14,990. That dress was part of their Spring 2024 collection, which was showcased during New York Fashion Week in September 2023. This collection highlighted poppies as the central motif, with intricate threadwork and oversized organza blooms adorning various pieces.
Kerry Washington also wore a custom Oscar de la Renta gown. The dress featured a corseted bodice with a suspended V-neckline in deep plum and lavender hues. A train of hand-dyed satin and velvet pearl-embellished orchids cascaded down the gown, with approximately 3,000 petals hand-dyed and some fully embellished with tonal bugle beads.
Part 4: The Trend Continues
We continue to see floral appliqués on the red carpet, on the runway, and worn by royals. Floral appliquéd dresses appear at department stores like Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdales, so this trend is still going strong. There are some sites that sell fast-fashion versions, like the Taylor Swift tank dress in Part 1 of this blog post, but they're very apparently less detailed than the dresses from fashion houses. I'm assume part of the appeal of this trend floral appliqués clothes cannot be made like other fast-fashion as embroidery takes a long time, is expensive, and is delicate. However, this doesn't mean that fast-fashion has ignored this trend.
What do y'all think of this trend?
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