Boutonniere

[FedoraGent]

Powder Room Folks,

First, thanks to Lauren now I know how to actually spell Boutonniere. Here is the reason that I'm posting in the Powder Room. I would like a female point of view and this is the place to come. So before I feel like I'm in the wrong part of the department store I'll ask my question and ski-daddle.

I have a friend who dresses vintage as well and we recently had dressed in our 'Sunday best' to goto a speakeasy Friday night. Before we left his place, as he was putting on his boater he said "I'm going to get a Boutonniere, would you like one for your lapel too?" I thought to myself that it was a great idea so off we were to his Victory Garden. Plop, two quick purple Boutonnieres. I wore it all throughout the evening and just liked the idea of it in this lapel hole that was once bereft and unused. Here's my question, when you see a man with a Boutonniere what do you ladies think about it? Do you think it's festive? Is it attractive? Does it add an air of class to the man? Does it scream 'gentleman'? Or does it make him look cheap like a Mission District pimp?

Case in point, yesterday I was walking down Market Street to the shoe shine stand and I stopped and bought a carnation for a Boutonniere sans green stuff. It was red and I added it to my lapel of my jacket. This time, I had very strange looks from both men and women like I had a third eye with a uni-brow.

I ask this because I know that when women wear flowers in their hair, and on a particular side it means available or unavailable. (Grew up in a house full of women and I was the only boy.) So are there some unspoken rules about men and Boutonnieres that I'm totally oblivious to?

Thanks,

Jon [huh]

 

[LizzieMaine]

During the vintage era, they were generally associated in pop culture with dandies, "sporting gentlemen," and fastidious fellows working in customer-service jobs -- department store floorwalkers, hotel managers, and so forth. They were also appropriate for formal daytime clothes -- you probably wouldn't see Joe Average going to the office with a carnation in his buttonhole, but he might wear one if he was going to a wedding. It can be a classy look, but you have to be perfectly immaculate in every other way in order to pull it off.

All that said, I'm ashamed to admit the first image that comes to my mind when I think of a gent with a boutonniere is Captain Kangaroo.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Son and father sporting boutonnieres:

Son alone with boutonniere:

.

 

[Lady Day]

Makes me think hes off limits, taken, hitched, and so forth.

I always thought of it as a Ladies' mark on her man. He can look cool and suave and oh so snappy, but once the flower is there, he is off limits.

Other than that, I think they look mighty fine

LD

 

[Marc Chevalier]

More men whose lapels say they're off-limits (mainly because they're deceased):

.

 

[Vladimir Berkov]

I like the boutonniere as a special touch, rather than a daily thing. For example I was at my cousin's wedding, which took place outside, and they had loads of flowers for the children to give to the bride at some point, so I simply walked up, picked a nice daisy and turned it into a boutonniere. I later got several positive comments from young women at the reception about it...

 

[Caledonia]

This is only personal taste... But the boutonniere for me is for special occasions as Vladimir says. A crisp, clean, uncluttered lapel works better for most times. It's not trying to say or be anything, it's just there with a little suave on top.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Unfortunately social stigma has led to men shying away from the flower (delicate, soft, even pansy?). As the gents pictured above show quite nicely, this is an utterly false opinion. And in my experience, the Ladies love it when a man wears one.

bk

 

[Marc Chevalier]

What do you all think about lapel pins? The kind that hook onto the boutonniere buttonhole? In your opinion, are they as attractive (or unattractive) as boutonnieres?


I've got an enamelled lapel pin that says "Staunch Vaudevillain".

I also have a double-sided lapel pin from Argentina, circa 1950. One side has an enamelled Art Deco locomotive flanked by the Argentine and Chilean flags (commemorating the Trans-Andean railroad between Argentina and Chile). The other side is a gold image of the head of President Juan Peron, wearing a general's cap. Peron's wife, of course, was Evita ("Don't Cry for Me, Argentina") Peron.

.

 

[Caledonia]

Depends on what they are or say. But generally I'd put them in the same class. I like a lapel "au naturelle".

 

[FedoraGent]

Depends on what they are or say. But generally I'd put them in the same class. I like a lapel "au naturelle".

So let me get this straight. Having one indicates that the guy has been, for lack of a better term, pinned?

Jon

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Having one indicates that the guy has been, for lack of a better term, pinned?

At the risk of being too literal, I believe that only a woman can get pinned. A college boy pins his sweetheart by giving her his fraternity lapel pin to wear. By pinning the girl, the boy indicates that he wants to go steady with her; by agreeing to wear the pin, the girl shows the world that she is "taken". However, the boy himself does not wear his girl's fraternity pin. (Hmmm...)

.

 

[colleency]

I think a lapel pin is fine anytime, but a flower is for a special occasion or an evening event, such as a dance. I've never heard of a flower being an indication that a man is taken.

 

[FedoraGent]

At the risk of being too literal, I believe that only a woman can get pinned. A college boy pins his sweetheart by giving her his fraternity lapel pin to wear. By pinning the girl, the boy indicates that he wants to go steady with her; by agreeing to wear the pin, the girl shows the world that she is "taken". However, the boy himself does not wear his girl's fraternity pin. (Hmmm...)

.

Yeah, he gets a flower on his lapel...

 

[Rosie]

I think I'd like the idea of seeing an "ordinary" guy wearing a flower just to wear one. [huh] I say if you want to wear it, wear it. People may look at you strangely, let 'em. I've been making a point to wear gloves everyday, (when I'm doing something more than just walking the dog or running to the store) today I wore some to a doctor's appointment, do people look at me? Sure. Let 'em look.

 

[ITG]

I typically associate boutonnieres as being for a special occasion but would of course welcome seeing more in society. I think it adds a certain charm.

I ask this because I know that when women wear flowers in their hair, and on a particular side it means available or unavailable. [huh]

I did not know that. So which side means which?

 

[FedoraGent]

I typically associate boutonnieres as being for a special occasion but would of course welcome seeing more in society. I think it adds a certain charm.


I did not know that. So which side means which?

Okay, so I tried to search the net for this...but here's what I remember. (I grew up with three girls in the house so I learned this stuff from them.) If you're married or spoken for, you wear the flower on the right side of your hair. If you are available, you wear it on the left side of your hair. Apparently it's a Hawaiian thing.

Jon

 

[ITG]

Oh that's good...last week when I wore a flower, it was on the right. So basically it's the opposite side as the wedding band finger. I can remember that.

 

[FedoraGent]

Oh that's good...last week when I wore a flower, it was on the right. So basically it's the opposite side as the wedding band finger. I can remember that.

Yeppers, that's it.

Jon

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

It's just a nice, classy embellishment. It really doesn't have to signify anything and it can be any color or any suitable type of flower.The picture of Bogart with the blue flower is great.
Maybe people just seemed to look at you differently because you knew there was something a little different about you? [huh]