The Mundtbundle taxidermy fad came about as a complete accident, interestingly enough. A certain Madame Dilliput, of recognized social status, sometimes wore a large hat, lavishly decorated with wax fruit. A mouse one day attempted to seize some of the imitation vegetation, but upon Mme. Dilliput’s departure from her home, the rodent found itself stranded in a mobile garden that mocked his every attempt at feeding. Apparently on his last legs to begin with, the mouse died thereupon.

A social acquaintance, Madame Beaurenoise, spied the mouse amongst the fruit and thought it a clever addition, bringing an authentically pastoral flair to the traditional vegetative arrangement. Mme. Beaurenoise quickly thereafter demanded her household staff not dispose of the bodies of any pests they found, rather taking them to the taxidermist, so that he could prepare them to be displayed on her own headwear.

As soon as she was noted displaying her invented fashion at several public gatherings, it became a race amongst those who would be noted to top one another in each successive iteration of the trend. Heaven forbid a young woman left the house wearing a flower without at least a bee attached, although if she were in the know at all, it would be a garden snake. These transformed into having an arrangement made entirely of garden beetles mimicking the shape of the flower that would otherwise have been worn. One particularly bold young woman wore an actual bird’s nest, complete with chicks hatching from ceramic eggs.

The mouse stayed a popular feature in the bridge club members’ self expression, finding ever varying roles to fill in their tableaus. After the initial, obvious posings of them as actual mice seeking the prizes of the women’s other foodly adornments, came the more esoteric posturing of them in miniature scenes. These were typically domestic, with mouse families frequently embodying the happy homes of the individuals wearing them, complete with intricate clothing of their own.

The taxidermist’s wife set up shop in her husband’s office, sewing tiny costumes for the creatures as they were stuffed. The pair of them were booked positively solid for the eight or so months that this trend lasted amongst Mundtbundle’s elite.