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Interflora’s Janet Hodgson has inspired florists in Manchester and, indeed, all over Lancashire with her Blue Peter-esque creativity in combining the worlds of flowers and fashion. She made a dress made out of blooms from florists in the area and brought a bit of light-heartedness to the news in the process.

Her creation was used to celebrate the first birthday of The Rock shopping centre in Bury, with a distinctive floral theme brightening up the celebrations. Ms Hodgson’s floral dress certainly attracted some attention from gardening and fashion enthusiasts throughout the event.

She used everything from roses to germini, hydrangeas to orchids, on the dress to create a modern and unique item of clothing to impress visitors. The end product was more a work of art than a dress, as such, and is sure to spark an interest in such pursuits in the future. Ms Hodgson is sure to have inspired florists in Stockport and the surrounding areas to be a bit more creative in their floral pursuits.

“The challenge was making it last as the original brief wanted us to use plants,” she told the Interflora blog. It would appear that she had no trouble at all with the adaptation as she brought this wonderful creation to hundreds of shoppers in Bury.

The Twitter icon for the shopping centre itself features a woman fully clad in a flowery dress, a look that Ms Hodgson brought to life in beautiful pinks and purples during the first birthday celebrations.

The florist even got creative with the frame of the dress itself after it was found that the original one was struggling to cope with the weight of the flowers. She improvised to strengthen the dress frame, which was provided by a local theatre company, in time for the event.

“We had to reinforce it with tent poles and chicken wire – it was like we were on Blue Peter!” beamed Hodgson.

Visitors and revellers were treated to a modelling of the wonderful, eye-catching creation before it was displayed on a mannequin that was placed in the shopping centre itself.

Ms Hodgson expressed her delight at seeing the dress on show to the public: “I have to admit that when I first saw it on the model it looked so fabulous that I cried! It was a very proud moment for me. It was such fun!”

The dress used the best flowers Stockport, Bury and Manchester had to offer and went down a treat as a result. The future of the flowery frock is uncertain, but judging by this success, it promises to be a popular addition to the fashion world.