Mulberry S/S14 Flowers by McQueens

Mulberry has become one of those celebrated shows during London Fashion Week, renowned for putting on a briliant spectacle. A visit to Claridge's, delicious cakes, flower displays, cakes, dogs and beautiful girls. This season was no exception, and a slightly more poignant occasion as it marked was Emma Hill's last collection for the British house after six years at the helm.

This season, the theme was an English country house, with Claridges's hotel transformed into a country manor. Esteemed London florist McQueens continued their collaboration with Mulberry, as founder Kally Ellis and her team created displays inspired by the work of legendary florist Constance Spry. Flower-daubed wrought iron gates at the entrance, an interior draped in moss, ivy and scented roses with a 'green lawn' carpet.

Here, AnOther speaks to McQueens' Kally Ellis about the ideas behind the Mulberry floral garden.

How did your Mulberry collaboration come about?
We've had a wonderful relationship with that it has developed over a number of years. We were initially approached to create a floral art installation in the window of their old flagship store on Bond Street. Mulberry had invited a selection of English ‘artists’ to create a piece of work that showcased their work and reflected their brand. We designed a Mulberry floral tree that was beautifully adorned with English garden blooms. We had an incredible response to the installation and it began the start of a very lovely relationship. Following on from that we were invited to supply weekly flowers to their store. We worked on their S/S13 show where we created a magical English garden complete with garden gnomes. They are a very inspirational team of people to work with.

"Models walked through the doorway and the outside of the facade was covered with rambling ivy and roses and jasmine – quintessential English garden flowers"

What are the key ideas behind this season's installation?
Mullbery has a very clear sense of design and how to create theatre, and their catwalk shows are always a highlight. This year's show was no exception. The Mulberry team designed the facade of a grand double-fronted Georgian mansion. Models walked through the doorway and the outside was covered with rambling ivy and roses and jasmine – quintessential English garden flowers. There were delphiniums, hydrangeas, fox gloves and larkspurs in a plethora of colours – purples, pinks, blues and greens.

What flowers and techniques are used?
A large part of the installation was spent covering the facade of the grand Georgian house with ivy. We also created planted hanging baskets and filled gigantic urns with wonderful British flowers such as delphinium, wild roses stock, antirrhinum and camellia. We had a team of 10 florists working to create the installation over a couple of days which included an overnight shift. A large part of our time was be spent on top of a ladder! It was such an exciting project to be working on and so much fun.

See our exclusive film interview with Kally Ellis of McQueens here.

Text by Laura Bradley