Rachel Berger, a 29-year-old Philadelphia native and bride-to-be, recently told her wedding florist that for the event’s table arrangements, she’d like leaves of the Monstera deliciosa: a plant with big, waxy, hole-riddled leaves that’s also known as the Swiss cheese plant.
Initially, her florist balked at the request. Why would an East Coast wedding feature a leaf that hails from Central American rainforests and is typically associated with a tropical vibe? But Berger had seen the leaf on social media and was a fan, and so she asked him to research ways to incorporate it into arrangements.
By their next meeting, the florist’s attitude toward the leaf had changed. He’d learned that the Monstera wasn’t just a now-popular leaf for floral arrangements: It was everywhere.
The current Monstera leaf craze might have started off niche, but it’s now been watered, pruned, and fed lots and lots of Miracle-Gro: The Monstera has become ubiquitous across fashion, retail, and branding.
“The Monstera is everywhere you turn, and everyone wants one in their space,” says Charlotte Parker, the social manager of Apartment Therapy’s Instagram, who estimates that Monstera leaves are featured in more than 25 percent of interior design content she sees on Instagram. Recently, the interior design site launched an Instagram account just for plant content, IPlantEven, and its logo features, of course, the Monstera leaf.
So why is this leaf everywhere? (...)
Like most modern trends — luxury pool floats, scammy teatoxes, color-coded bookshelves — the Monstera has social media to thank for its current A-list status.
Justina Blakeney, the designer and author behind the interior design lifestyle blog the Jungalow, doesn’t exactly claim the current Monstera trend as her own, but she recalls a blog post from February 2015 about the Monstera leaf that went viral. When Blakeney wrote the post, she had 1 million followers on Pinterest. (She now has 6.6 million.) Within a few days of publishing, photos from the post spread all across Pinterest, Instagram, and were “reposted by a gajillion blogs.”
Ever since, she says, the Monstera leaf has “slowly taken over.” Now on Instagram, the Monstera is generally potted in handmade ceramics or woven baskets and placed next to velvet sofas and rustic woven rugs. On Pinterest, the leaves are commonly spotted as placemats and on wallpaper.
It helps that the leaf lends itself to a minimalist brand aesthetic. Eliza Blank, the founder of the online and IRL plant shop The Sill, points out that stores like COS, Reformation, and Away — all of which use the leaf in stores — have an extremely similar retail aesthetic: white walls, bright lighting, neat and carefully curated product (what New York magazine recently called retail’s “Minimalist Art Gallery”). And while the Monstera leaf is associated with bohemian Jungalow branding, it can also steer a minimalist aesthetic away from feeling cold and sterile.
“The Monstera is a safe, modern add for a store like Away or Reformation,” Blank says. “A bouquet of flowers probably couldn’t work inside there because it might feel feminine or romantic, and isn’t the muted minimalist look they want. But the Monstera is cool and chic. It has a unique graphic and architectural element to it, with that whimsical wabi-sabi type of Japanese imperfection, where its design is tied to nature and the earth. I think this really resonates in fashion.”
by Chavie Lieber , Racked | Read more:
Image: The Sill
Initially, her florist balked at the request. Why would an East Coast wedding feature a leaf that hails from Central American rainforests and is typically associated with a tropical vibe? But Berger had seen the leaf on social media and was a fan, and so she asked him to research ways to incorporate it into arrangements.By their next meeting, the florist’s attitude toward the leaf had changed. He’d learned that the Monstera wasn’t just a now-popular leaf for floral arrangements: It was everywhere.
The current Monstera leaf craze might have started off niche, but it’s now been watered, pruned, and fed lots and lots of Miracle-Gro: The Monstera has become ubiquitous across fashion, retail, and branding.
“The Monstera is everywhere you turn, and everyone wants one in their space,” says Charlotte Parker, the social manager of Apartment Therapy’s Instagram, who estimates that Monstera leaves are featured in more than 25 percent of interior design content she sees on Instagram. Recently, the interior design site launched an Instagram account just for plant content, IPlantEven, and its logo features, of course, the Monstera leaf.
So why is this leaf everywhere? (...)
Like most modern trends — luxury pool floats, scammy teatoxes, color-coded bookshelves — the Monstera has social media to thank for its current A-list status.
Justina Blakeney, the designer and author behind the interior design lifestyle blog the Jungalow, doesn’t exactly claim the current Monstera trend as her own, but she recalls a blog post from February 2015 about the Monstera leaf that went viral. When Blakeney wrote the post, she had 1 million followers on Pinterest. (She now has 6.6 million.) Within a few days of publishing, photos from the post spread all across Pinterest, Instagram, and were “reposted by a gajillion blogs.”
Ever since, she says, the Monstera leaf has “slowly taken over.” Now on Instagram, the Monstera is generally potted in handmade ceramics or woven baskets and placed next to velvet sofas and rustic woven rugs. On Pinterest, the leaves are commonly spotted as placemats and on wallpaper.
It helps that the leaf lends itself to a minimalist brand aesthetic. Eliza Blank, the founder of the online and IRL plant shop The Sill, points out that stores like COS, Reformation, and Away — all of which use the leaf in stores — have an extremely similar retail aesthetic: white walls, bright lighting, neat and carefully curated product (what New York magazine recently called retail’s “Minimalist Art Gallery”). And while the Monstera leaf is associated with bohemian Jungalow branding, it can also steer a minimalist aesthetic away from feeling cold and sterile.
“The Monstera is a safe, modern add for a store like Away or Reformation,” Blank says. “A bouquet of flowers probably couldn’t work inside there because it might feel feminine or romantic, and isn’t the muted minimalist look they want. But the Monstera is cool and chic. It has a unique graphic and architectural element to it, with that whimsical wabi-sabi type of Japanese imperfection, where its design is tied to nature and the earth. I think this really resonates in fashion.”
by Chavie Lieber , Racked | Read more:
Image: The Sill
