Doom and bloom
The Plant is a magazine about plants and the people who love them. Harley Weir, who regularly contributes to the magazine, opens this 16th issue, with a series of stunning photographs of dead or dying flowers. Entitled ‘Doom and Bloom’, the story feels like a subtle and (mercifully) funny take on all the pessimism we have had to endure, through Covid. In my favourite spread, cigarette stubs nestle inside foxglove petals.
This appetite for strange juxtapositions is a feature of The Plant. Another fantastic feature shows bags — posh leather ones, straw ones, plastic ones — stuffed with flowers. Clothes are another constant subject of these pages. Some of the fashion shoots are a little obvious (think: pretty people running free in nature), but most of the editorial combines plants and clothes in unexpected ways. One central feature is devoted to a new womenswear collection by Imogen Wright and Vincent Le Chapelain, the duo behind upcycle designer Wright Le Chapelain. The designs — which are fantastically androgynous — are photographed alongside close-ups of flowers, and the combination of traditionally masculine and feminine elements is satisfying and beautiful.
There are a lot of very average magazines made about both fashion and gardening. The Plant manages to make both subjects new and strange.
