Now open, Phipps invites you to Flowers Meet Fashion: Inspired by Billy Porter. This spectacular new show features brilliant horticultural displays and breathtaking fashion designs inspired by Billy Porter’s local roots and iconic array of accomplishments as an award-winning actor, singer, director, composer, and playwright. With the help of six professional fashion designers and costumers and students from Billy’s local alma maters, Carnegie Mellon University and Pittsburgh CAPA High School, Phipps has created an unforgettable experience for all.

Stunning scenes in room after room will place you directly into a fantastic world of fashion and flora, surrounding you with bursts of bright blooms like geraniums, begonias, philodendron and so much more.

Exhibit features include the following:

· Enter the show as an intricate, Pittsburgh-inspired gown takes center stage in front of a pink neon sign in our Welcome Center

· Stroll among elegant blue and green costumes inspired by Porter’s Unprotected: A Memoir beneath gleaming globe chandeliers in our Sunken Garden

· View a captivating gold costume that hovers in the Victoria Room as blue water lilies circulate in the pond below

· Strut your stuff into the Broderie Room featuring a vibrant Kinky Boots-inspired display

· Lights, camera, action! The South Conservatory transports you to a red carpet holding three award-worthy dresses constructed with dried plant material

· Marvel at the live fish swimming within the aquaponics costume in the Serpentine Room

· Don’t forget to strike a pose in front of the pink and green vertical wall on your way out!

The concept for this year’s Summer Flower Show came to be when Billy filmed his directorial debut, Anything’s Possible, within Phipps itself in 2021. Collaborating further on an upcoming flower show focused on fashion seemed to be the obvious next step! To prepare for this show, Phipps horticulturists spent countless hours growing and caring for the 96 different plant types that are featured.

For the South Conservatory, the Phipps Exhibits team constructed three fashion pieces out of dried plant material, all seeking inspiration from nature. Exhibit Associate Mary Lou Linton-Morningstar designed the costume silhouettes in the fall of 2022 and enlisted help from horticulture to gather and preserve plant material for each design that would be fabricated over the course of four months.

Throughout the intensive design and installation process, Billy and his team provided valuable and insightful feedback that was subsequently incorporated into the show. Associate Director of Exhibits Jordyn Melino recalls one specific instance regarding the red carpet featured in the South Conservatory. “Billy commented how a red carpet is just begging to be walked on and asked if there was any way we could make it interactive for guests. We were able to adjust our design so that the red carpet of flowers extended as an actual red carpet that spills over the garden and down the pathway to where guests could stand on it while using the selfie shelf for a photo!” This photo opportunity has already proven to be a fun and immersive feature for guests of all ages.

Prepare to be wowed as you behold unique designs and gorgeous gowns enhanced by beauty that only Phipps can provide. Flowers Meet Fashion: Inspired by Billy Porter, designed by Associate Director of Exhibits Jordyn Melino and featuring the work of Madison Michalko, Thee Suburbia, Cathy Olivar, Gloria Swanson, Damian E. Dominguez, Mindy Eshelman, and the students of Carnegie Mellon University and Pittsburgh CAPA 6 – 12, is open daily this summer at Phipps.