Fleurs de Villes MUSE: The Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House Imagined Through Floral Artistry

In March, Fleurs de Villes MUSE, a world-renowned floral exhibition, honored the AT&T Performing Arts Center through the artistry of flowers. One of North Texas’ most talented floral designers, Bows and Arrows, used the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House as inspiration for creating a stunning floral gown, mimicking the landmark performance venue known for its modern design, sweeping solar canopy, and glass façade.

The resulting gown is a combination of old-world opera charm and modern aesthetics.

Floral designers Adam and Alicia Rico paid close attention to both the ephemeral and approachable elements of the opera house. With every design, they start with an initial inspiration, choose a directional concept, and then gather materials (i.e., colors, seasonal florals, etc.), creating sketches and renderings for their proposed design. 

“Red roses are a striking classic flower that are familiar but can also be grand when applied en masse,” said one half of the Bows and Arrows team, Adam Rico. “To help mimic the glass façade of the Winspear Opera House, we decided to work with an unusual flower seed pod, encased in a translucent paper-like material, called lunaria. And to complete the overall design, blue hydrangea petals accent a veil draped behind the gown, referencing the blue lighting that glows on the Opera house at night.”  

This was the first year for the AT&T Performing Arts to showcase at the Fleurs de Villes exhibition alongside other Dallas/Fort-Worth cultural and arts institutions like The Dallas Opera, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and the Nasher Sculpture Center. Twenty-two floral installations were created by North Texas’ talented floral designers, celebrating the muses that inspire great art, reimagined through fresh flowers and stunning design.