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ld adages aside, if there’s any truth to the notion that every woman loves fowers, then the
proof is on full display at the Los Angeles studio where Hollywood’s most in-demand forist, Eric Buterbaugh, has
corralled three longtime friends and clients—Gwyneth Paltrow, Demi Moore, and Nicole Richie—for a photo shoot
for Harper’s Bazaar. Quite the glamorous foursome, there they are poking fun at one another’s camera faces and jok-
ing about who has prime positioning (“Why am I always in the back?” Richie teases) as they arrange themselves
around Buterbaugh in front of the bright, blooming arch he has created for the occasion. It’s composed of magnolia
branches, nearly 2,500 Geraldine roses, and more than 30,000 carnations. “I’ve worked hard to be the best, and I have
the calluses to prove it, sweetie,” says Buterbaugh, cheery, warm, and bespectacled as he buzzes around in a gray Lanvin
suit, his one indulgence to ostentation a pair of Cuban-heeled Christian Louboutin boots.
Despite appearances, Buterbaugh isn’t used to being the center of attention. His handiwork, though, frequently is.
Operating for the past 16 years out of a suite in the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, he’s become the go-to foral
designer in L.A. and for some of the most discerning heavyweights in entertainment and fashion. When Tory Burch
and Michael Kors came to town to open West Coast outposts, Buterbaugh was enlisted to help set the mood. The
white calla lilies at Madonna and Guy Oseary’s Oscars after-party last year? Buterbaugh’s doing too. His client list also
includes virtually every major luxury brand, from Dior and Valentino to Ferragamo and Cartier, and he’s done parties
for the British royal family (including one at Windsor Castle). The king of Thailand even recruited Buterbaugh to
create portraits of his country’s native fowers, but in a more modern style, a project done to commemorate both the
king’s birthday and the anniversary of his ascension to the throne. One of Buterbaugh’s most memorable gigs was
Salma Hayek’s 2009 wedding to Kering CEO François-Henri Pinault at the Venice opera house, for which Buterbaugh
commissioned a series of tall, cylindrical vases that surrounded the couple on the altar. “It was a three-day afair with
the most amazing group of people—Bono even sang,” Buterbaugh remembers. “The vases were so delicate that they
had to be brought to the opera house along with the fowers on these tiny little motorboats that could navigate the
canals without the glass breaking.” Awards season remains his busiest period. “Besides the parties, it’s all the fowers you
have to send people, send to the stars, the thank-you for wearing the dress, the thank-you to the stylist for getting the
person to wear the dress,” he says. “Oscars week, there’s blood on the shop foor.”
Now Buterbaugh is venturing into fragrances with a collection of scents inspired by—what else?—fowers. A year
and a half ago, he met Fabrice Croisé, a former Lancôme executive who wanted to develop a new range of perfumes,
and the two hit it of immediately. “I was looking for a story,” says Croisé, “and Eric is a living story.” They quickly
agreed to work together and began to sketch out a business plan. Buterbaugh says the mission was clear: to make the
most beautiful foral fragrances that have ever existed. “I’ve always wanted everything to smell good,” he explains. “I’ve
always had Rigaud candles burning in my room. I hated showers from the beginning, so I took baths flled with gorgeous-
smelling bubbles. And I’ve always been obsessed with personal fragrance. I had my moments with CK One and Issey
Miyake, and I really loved the French fragrances like Chanel No. 5, Yves Saint Laurent Jazz, and Dior Eau Sauvage.
I didn’t care if they were for men or women—if they smelled good, they smelled good.”
Buterbaugh’s line, called Eric Buterbaugh Florals, will launch online this month with seven scents, each based on a
diferent fower, which he and Croisé hope will appeal to women who are both deliberate and particular when it comes
to their fragrances. “Scent is a very personal thing,” says Buterbaugh, who yearns for the kind of care and attention that
went into making perfume during the heady days of the pre-Victorian era, when scents were painstakingly crafted in
small batches for members of the noble classes and bottles were handmade and decorated with“Eric is very economical in terms of the beauty
he creates with his fowers. It can be over-the-top,
but just the perfect amount. And he’s like
that as a person too.” —Gwyneth Paltrow
Continued on page 520
Full bloom.
Dress,
Alexander
McQueen. For
Paltrow: Hair:
Giannandrea
for Macadamia
Professionals;
makeup:
Angela Levin;
manicure:
Ashlie Johnson
for Chanel.