This month’s FLOWERBMB is a fixture on the front row during Men’s Fashion Week and is luckily as passionate about flowers as he is about style. The dashing Teo van den Broeke is the Style and Grooming Director of British GQ and here he opens up on the emotional and sentimental role that flowers play in his fashionable and floral life.
SAGE BLUSH HYDRANGEA
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"There is nothing more beautiful
than flowers. Any environment grand
or grounded, will be both humbled"
and enhanced by them.
TEO VAN DEN BROEKE
SAGE BLUSH HYDRANGEA
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What are your favourite flowers and why? White or colour? And what colour?

I adore peonies, hydrangeas, lillies and iceberg roses. The first two I love because they’re so fecund and lush, the latter two, because they remind me of my mum and my grandma respectively.

Do these flowers have significance in your life story, a moment from your past, a favourite of your mother’s or given to you by a partner...

I’ve owned one particular hydrangea bush for a good 10 years and I nursed it from near death to full health a few years ago. Every year, when it blooms, it changes colour and it reminds me of the strange rhythm of life. In terms of the roses, my grandma had icebergs outside her front window and I now have iceberg roses outside of mine. My mum planted them for me, which is particularly meaningful as my grandma, to whom I was very close, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s five or so years ago, and they remind me of how she used to be. As a consequence I just love having cut roses - full white ones in particular - and cut hydrangeas of any colour, bucketfuls of them, around my house. My favourite cut hydrangeas on Flowerbx are the blue ones, they dry into such a beautiful dusky colour.

What are your favourite vase styles/shapes?

Love a concave glass vase which likes like the upside down trumpet of a daffodil. I love the large apothecary vase. There’s something so simple and elegant about it, the dimensions are perfect, and combined with other apothecary vases in different sizes makes a great table feature. I can’t really get enough.

ALABASTER SPRAY ROSE
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"One peony on its own communicates as much love and thought as an entire bunch of another flower."
TEO VAN DEN BROEKE
CLASSIC CREAM TUBEROSE
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What are your tips for arranging flowers for a dinner party? Or for your house for any occasion?

The more the merrier!

How does your flower choice reflect your personal style? And your interior style?

I like stuff, and things. Therefore I like an eclectic mix of flowers that does not conform to one particular pattern or idea. That said, the colours must always be complimentary and never clash. I’m not into clashing.

What are the most beautiful or significant flowers that you’ve ever been given?

On the day of my graduation, in 2008, my mum gave me a bunch of beautiful peonies. I’ve loved peonies ever since. Particularly soft pink ones. Soft pink seems to compliment all the other muted colours in my flat!

What is your most powerful memory involving flowers and scent?

Jasmine always reminds me of being a kid and being free in the summer. My parents had an enormous jasmine which climbed the front wall of our house and the scent of jasmine reminds me of racing into the back garden of the house when it was time to come in for supper on a warm summer night.

 
CHERRY LIMEADE HYDRANGEA
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BABY POWDER FREESIA
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"...I like an eclectic mix of flowers that does not conform to one particular pattern or idea."
TEO VAN DEN BROEKE
FIDDLE LEAF FIG
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How does having flowers in your home change the atmosphere? How does being surrounded by flowers make you feel?

It makes everything feel alive. There is nothing more beautiful than flowers. Any environment grand or grounded, will be both humbled and enhanced by them.

What flowers do you most like to give and why?

I love to give peonies because they feel so special. One peony on its own communicates as much love and thought as an entire bunch of another flower.

What flowers would you most like to be given and why?

Hydrangeas because they dry so beautifully.

FIDDLE LEAF FIG TALL
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