SCENE ON THE STREET : Fashion Trend in Full Flower

On a torrid summer day, merely breathing the names of flowers can dry the dripping brow. Rose, lily, violet, daisy, lady-slipper, Queen Anne’s lace; gentian, iris, black-eyed Susan soothe the mind and furnish grace.

Oops. Darned easy to slip from posies to poetry. In fact, judging from the world’s literature over the ages, the two are just a petal’s width apart.

But fast forward to the summer of ‘91, and women are still picking floral patterns: some dainty and dappled, and some as bold as a Gauguin print. It would take a rare day that would be warm enough to wilt these examples, seen in Pasadena, Alhambra, La Puente and Arcadia.

The whole thing’s enough to turn a swap meet into a blooming garden party.