An eighteenth-century Parisian fashion in ladies' accessories became so popular it not only continued throughout the Victorian period and across the channel in Great Britain, but continues today in some romantic, Victorian-themed weddings. I speak of none other than the tussy mussy.
The tussy mussy was a fixture added to a dress at the wrist, usually, or shoulder / bosom, or perhaps even waist. It was made up of a small cup, or repousse, attached to a chain with ring (for fixing to a garment). The cup included a spike or chained spike, upon which a small nosegay of flowers might be impaled. The posy holder, as the tussy mussy was also called, might be of any fine, worked material, but silver was a favorite, and was commonly fixed with mother of pearl and small glass frames for photographs or miniature portraits.
According to the RHS, "The name 'tussie-mussie' evolved from the 15th century when these bouquets were recorded as a 'tumose of flowrys or other herbys'. Elizabethan tussie-mussies included thyme, lavender, marjoram, mints, balm, rosemary and camomile for their fresh fragrance and the belief that they refreshed the head and stimulated the memory."
The Victorian tussy mussy often carried a friend or lover's token, the miniature bouquet having been carefully selected and arranged to communicate a message in the language of flowers, which also led to the bouquets they carried being refered to as articulated nosegays and word-posies.
However, according to Brent Elliott of the Royal Horticultural Society, the language of flowers was unfixed and open to misreading:
"Between the 1840s and the 1880s many books on 'the language of flowers' appeared in Britain and America; the library has only a fraction of the total published yet they occupy nearly 60cm (2ft) of shelf space. The meanings they give, however, often vary widely from book to book - daffodil, for example, can be 'delusive hope' or 'deceitful hope', 'folly', 'regard' or 'unrequited love'.
The language of flowers is often said to have originated in Turkey. In 1718 the famous traveller Lady Mary Wortley Montagu sent a box full of objects to a friend in England. In this 'Turkish love-letter' each object's name acted as a mnemonic to recall a specific line of poetry. Only a few were flowers, but Lady Mary commented, 'There is no colour, no flower, no weed, no fruit, no herb, pebble or feather, that has not a verse belonging to it'.
The Victorian fashion, however, seems to stem from Le Langage des Fleurs by 'Charlotte de la Tour' (Louise Cortambert). Published in Paris in 1818 and translated into English in 1834, the book inspired a vast number of imitators. Robert Tyas adopted de la Tour's system intact in The Sentiment of Flowers (1853); later, in Language of Flowers (1869) he made some alterations. Other authors, many of them anonymous, added to the original or interpreted it differently, either to fit in with their own religious beliefs or other agendas, or simply to create meanings for the latest popular plant introductions. Never was a 'language' so open to misinterpretation."
A Victorian fashion related to the tussy mussy was the vase pin.
The tussy mussy was a fixture added to a dress at the wrist, usually, or shoulder / bosom, or perhaps even waist. It was made up of a small cup, or repousse, attached to a chain with ring (for fixing to a garment). The cup included a spike or chained spike, upon which a small nosegay of flowers might be impaled. The posy holder, as the tussy mussy was also called, might be of any fine, worked material, but silver was a favorite, and was commonly fixed with mother of pearl and small glass frames for photographs or miniature portraits.
According to the RHS, "The name 'tussie-mussie' evolved from the 15th century when these bouquets were recorded as a 'tumose of flowrys or other herbys'. Elizabethan tussie-mussies included thyme, lavender, marjoram, mints, balm, rosemary and camomile for their fresh fragrance and the belief that they refreshed the head and stimulated the memory."
The Victorian tussy mussy often carried a friend or lover's token, the miniature bouquet having been carefully selected and arranged to communicate a message in the language of flowers, which also led to the bouquets they carried being refered to as articulated nosegays and word-posies.
However, according to Brent Elliott of the Royal Horticultural Society, the language of flowers was unfixed and open to misreading:
"Between the 1840s and the 1880s many books on 'the language of flowers' appeared in Britain and America; the library has only a fraction of the total published yet they occupy nearly 60cm (2ft) of shelf space. The meanings they give, however, often vary widely from book to book - daffodil, for example, can be 'delusive hope' or 'deceitful hope', 'folly', 'regard' or 'unrequited love'.
The language of flowers is often said to have originated in Turkey. In 1718 the famous traveller Lady Mary Wortley Montagu sent a box full of objects to a friend in England. In this 'Turkish love-letter' each object's name acted as a mnemonic to recall a specific line of poetry. Only a few were flowers, but Lady Mary commented, 'There is no colour, no flower, no weed, no fruit, no herb, pebble or feather, that has not a verse belonging to it'.
The Victorian fashion, however, seems to stem from Le Langage des Fleurs by 'Charlotte de la Tour' (Louise Cortambert). Published in Paris in 1818 and translated into English in 1834, the book inspired a vast number of imitators. Robert Tyas adopted de la Tour's system intact in The Sentiment of Flowers (1853); later, in Language of Flowers (1869) he made some alterations. Other authors, many of them anonymous, added to the original or interpreted it differently, either to fit in with their own religious beliefs or other agendas, or simply to create meanings for the latest popular plant introductions. Never was a 'language' so open to misinterpretation."
A Victorian fashion related to the tussy mussy was the vase pin.
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