Vintage Big Game style makes a comeback
Senior Sydney Kaminski is bringing back floral corsages, which were popular fashion accessories that students wore to Big Game a century ago. | Andrew Brodhead
A century ago, floral corsages were a must-have accessory for Big Game attendees. This year, art history major Sydney Kaminski, ’25, is bringing back the tradition, while uncovering forgotten facts about Stanford history.
After months of research, Kaminski has traced the origins of Big Game corsages to a time when formal attire and floral rivalry defined game-day fashion. Stanford students sported red and white blooms, while Berkeley fans donned yellow and blue, competing to see who could showcase the largest corsage. Along the way, her investigation revealed ties to Asian immigrant histories and surprising facts about a locally grown flower.
“Today, we associate Stanford with the tree. But if you look back 100 years, the chrysanthemum would have been equally important to the Stanford community,” Kaminski said.
Read the full article by Alex Kekauoha featured in the Stanford Report.