Cabinet card of man covered in flowers and leaves

At Anonymous Works we found this photo of a man happily covered in flowers and leaves. We wonder what the story is behind that image made in 1918. What a way to dress for spring: head-to-toe in flowers and leaves….!!

And as with the Tutu Project, there’s something even more amazing about it being a guy gamely dressed this way.

Related posts: ‘the tutu project’ explores identity, change and love
boat shoes…
fab hairdo with balloons, via myeongbeom kim
hair as apparel, identity, art (man ray)
spring is coming (really)!

If you’ve found illumination, joy, or inspiration in this post, please consider supporting Improvised Life. It only takes a minute to make a secure donation that helps pay our many costs. A little goes a long way towards helping Improvised Life continue to live ad-free in the world.

Support Improvised Life ♥

4 replies on “a perfect spring outfit: flowers and leaves

  1. Erik looks like a Swedish student. In Sweden ,,where I am from, we have a long tradition to “cover” the student in flowers when they get their high school diploma. The white graduation cap is the sign that the student has passed all the the tests. Graduation is always in june when the nature is full of flowers =)

  2. It’s a strange photo isn’t it. He is sort of smiling- but not happy or “cheeky. Makes me wonder… I think he is holding a rifle by his side and the flowers look more like bouquets of flowers and lots of tags on the flowers all the same size and he seems to be wearing lots of medals on stripy ribbon but the “medals “look too thick.
    Does make me wonder if this is at a memorial – and “Erik” the nick name of a ship that had been bombed. A quick search I came up with http://uboat.net/wwi/ships_hit/1721.html lots went down on that date – then there …is On 28 May 1918, the 28th Infantry Regiment of the U.S.
    1st Division attacked a German-held French village called
    Cantigny some seventy miles north of Paris. This operation
    marked an important moment in the history of the U.S. Army.
    A small battle by World War I standards, the Battle of Cantigny
    was America’s first significant battle, and first offensive, of
    World War I.
    Which made me think was this a “heros spoils – covered in messages and flowers by a thankful village

    Or some sort of military celebration parade where the crowd might bring flowers and “medals”

    Or it also looks like
    Imperial Russian tzarist officer summer visor hat. a bit.

    Hmmmm
    Or a wedding custom of pinning flowers and money to the bride – can over flow to the groom…
    A bit of goooogling is a dangerous thing – but he has captured my imagination!

  3. I believe its a Swedish celebration for graduating called ‘studenten’ which takes place at around 19 years old. All the classmates, friends, relatives give flowers and presents hung from ribbons around the students neck. If you search you can see it still continues today, they decorate trucks with birch branches and ride around celebrating, its very joyous and much more fun than being presented with a piece of paper.The hat is part of the outfit that all graduating wear.

  4. Thanks Helen and Camilla- mystery solved… I “may” have been over-thinking it 🙂

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *