Nocturnal Magnolia
A tribute to flowers, paper and the enduring beauty of nature
Every collection begins long before the first sketch.
This season began with the extraordinary work of Mary Delany.
Born in England in 1700, Mary Delany was an artist, writer and remarkable observer of the natural world who lived between England and Ireland during the Georgian era. I first came across her extraordinary botanical works many years ago and have been fascinated by them ever since.
Her flowers have an almost magical quality. Set against deep black backgrounds, they seem to emerge from the darkness, extraordinarily precise and botanical, yet at the same time poetic and full of life.
What makes her story even more remarkable is that this extraordinary body of work began when she was 72 years old.
It was then that Delany began creating what she called her paper mosaicks, intricate botanical compositions made from hundreds of tiny pieces of hand-cut coloured paper. Working directly from botanical specimens, she recreated each flower with such extraordinary observation and precision that, at first glance, they can appear to be paintings. Every petal, stem and leaf is rendered with remarkable delicacy.
Over the following decade, she created nearly one thousand of these works, now known as the Flora Delanica. The great collection of 985 botanical collages is today preserved at the British Museum in London.
There is something deeply inspiring about a woman whose most important body of work began so late in life. Her story is a beautiful reminder that creativity has no prescribed moment, that curiosity, beauty and the desire to make something new can arrive at any age.
Her flowers stayed with me, and this year they became the starting point for our new collection and a botanical world we will continue to explore throughout the season.
For our first chapter, I found myself returning to a flower that has been part of my own visual memory since childhood, the magnolia.
Growing up in northern Italy, I was always fascinated by the magnificent magnolia trees in the gardens of old villas. Every spring, almost overnight, familiar landscapes would be transformed by great clouds of flowers. Before the leaves appeared, there were simply branches and blossoms, sculptural, pale and almost theatrical.
Perhaps that sense of wonder has never really left me.
The magnolia is one of the world’s most ancient flowering plants. Its petals appear delicate, yet are unusually thick and resilient, a contradiction I have always found beautiful. Softness and strength existing together.
And then, almost as quickly as they arrive, the flowers disappear.
There is something about this fleeting beauty that feels very close to the world of Morpho + Luna. Like the butterfly, the magnolia has the ability to make us stop and look. One takes flight for a moment; the other flowers for only a brief time.
Our Nocturnal Magnolia print brings these two inspirations together: the flowers of my childhood and the extraordinary botanical world of Mary Delany.
Magnolia is the first chapter of a collection inspired by Mary Delany’s remarkable eye, her paper flowers and, above all, by a woman who reminds us that it is never too late to begin something beautiful.
Photographed in France by photographer Alexandra Adami in the last days of summer, the collection captures that fleeting moment when one season begins to give way to the next, the light starts to soften, the days grow shorter, and there is a quiet sense of change in the air.
A last glimpse of summer, and the beginning of a new season.
Welcome to Nocturnal Magnolia.
With love,
Cécile & Team Moprho + Luna
Discover Alexandra Adami’s world.
Alexandra Adami
After spending over 15 years in the TV/advertising and photography industry, initially based in New York, then London, and now Milan, Alexandra decided to pick up her own camera and immerse herself in creative projects. She developed a passion for photographing beautiful interiors and shooting 'creative portraits'. Her special interests are in abandoned and dystopian settings, as well as in combining the beautiful with unconventional elements. Eclectic, colorful, and a bit of mystery are her favorite components when creating visuals. She has received several photography awards, including winning the prestigious 'Portrait of Britain' and 'Portrait of Humanity' awards twice.