The Nosegay: Victorian bouquet holders
During the early nineteenth century, women of means discovered a solution to smelling pleasant and fresh throughout the day: by wearing a tiny bouquet of scented flowers called a nosegay, or tussie-mussie. Designed to mask unpleasant bodily odors, the nosegay was placed in a special bouquet holder, which could then be carried in one’s hand or on one’s clothes. Nosegays were also used to cover up outdoor smells from garbage in the streets, as modern forms of sanitation did not exist during the early nineteenth century.
The nosegay holders designed to hold the flowers were invented around the early 1800’s but by the 1830’s they were a regular trend for women and girls. As with so many other fashions of this time period, they were set by Queen Victoria in England, who was almost never seen without her nosegay out in public. By the end of the nineteenth century, nosegay holders were seen in France, Russa, and even China.
Shaped like a cornet, the musical instrument, the nosegay holder had a wide enough top for a small handful of flowers to be inserted into. A small piece of damp moss would encircle the flower stems in the holder at the base to keep the flowers fresher longer. The size of the nosegay holder ranged anywhere from one inch in length to eight inches, often made of metal, ivory, or mother-of-pearl. The holder might be open filigree work or embossed design if made of metal, with gold often being used by upper-class ladies and royalty. Gemstones and pearls might also be added for decoration. Some nosegays holders were made with a metal pin to be worn like a brooch, while others would have a small circle with a chain attached at the base of the holder intended to be worn around a lady’s finger. Some nosegay holders even had a set of legs which could be expanded from the cornet shape and rested upon a flat surface, such as a table at a dance, since these small bouquets of flowers were often given by men to women.
By 1920, the Victorian nosegay holder went out of style, but the concept of a small bouquet meant to be worn on a lady’s dress or even the wrist for events like dances, remains through the twenty-first century.
Image Credit: Smithsonian Gardens, Horticultural Artifacts Collection. Gift of Frances Jones Poetker.
