Haute couture flower power

0 Comments | AFP, January, 2008

PARIS (AFP) — With only days to go before the haute couture collections for summer 2008, the workrooms of Marcelle Guillet tucked behind the Bastille opera house in Paris are a hive of activity putting the finishing touches to orders for the house's unique speciality: artificial flowers.

Whether pinned to the lapel of a jacket, nestling in a cleavage, or trimming a hat, the exquisite floral creations that grace the catwalks of the top designers will all have emanated from no. 1 avenue Daumesnil.

At one workbench pleated white tulle is being assembled into the house signature camellia for Chanel and carefully laid into tissue-lined boxes. At another one of the "mains" -- as the women with magic at their fingertips are known -- is deftly shaping petals using a pair of...