March 21st Today, I am...

...this gorgeous floral teacup!

I'm an antique tea cup with saucer English china tea set, could be purchased at Etsy for $159 but currently out of stock! Tea was introduced in Europe by the Dutch East India Company in the 17th century. The first merchant shipment arrived in 1637 but tea remained a rare good, together withother exotic Asian products, for several decades. Its demand grew steadily and it finally dominated the whole 18th century  overseas trade with China. At the beginning of the 18th century it was an aristocratic drink. England came to be a major destiny for the new drink. While both green and black tea where popular in China, black tea dominated the trade to Europe. Green tea was more difficult to keep fresh and easier to adulterate, so both companies and consumers had a preference for the fermented variation. A sweetened version of the beverage became popular in Europe, where it spread together with coffeeand chocolate. The new hot drinks, increasingly consumed along the 18th century, changed the daily diet in many countries. In the Netherlands, they were combined with bread to form an economic breakfast that replaced porridge, pancakes and beer and reorganized the daily meal system, from a two‐meal to a three meal regime. They also brought thehabit of eating sweets.

other antique teacups:

 

interesting tea facts: 

* tea bags were invented in America in the early 1800s, and were initially used to hold samples of teas brought from India

* there are many different kinds of tea, but they are all derived from just one plant: Camellia sinensis.; the color and variety of the tea (green, black, white, oolong) depends, however, on the way the leaves are treated

* at 11 o’clock in the morning, to stay alert, in England it’s common to take a break with a cup of tea and some cakes: Elevenses; before dinner, however, you can take ‘high tea’: a kind of reinforced snack

* «Can I get you anything? Coffee? Tea? Me?» is one of cinema’s best-known quotes; it’s the famously cheeky line uttered by Joan Cusack to Harrison Ford in the classic film Working Girl.

* tea leaves are a natural means of keeping mosquitoes away
* Oolong tea, a Chinese and Taiwanese tea with a fruity aroma, is also often called Dragon’s Tea: these tea leaves, when put in teapot, often start to look like a dragon
* The London Tea Auction was an institution which lasted for 300 years; tea was sold using the ‘by the candle’ system: bidding for lots went on until an inch of a candle had burnt away

(all facts found at Tea Facts A-Z)

March 14th Today, I am...

...this gorgeous wine and ivory embroidered jacket!

I am made of heavy wool in wine and cream. Thight fitting, hip-length with stand-up collar. Front  attached vest is ornately trimmed with maroon machine embroidery. The same trim is found on the shoulder, bottom of sleeve and on the back. Skirt of the jacket is shaped to fit over a bustle. I am from cca. 1890s and was worn by Jessie Webb Corwin's mother, Jessie Mason Webb. In the 1820s and 1830s the waistline deepened, returning to its natural position. As the natural waist returned the bodice required a tighter fit and in contrast the skirt became fuller and bell-shaped. There were several different sleeve styles but short puffed sleeves were generally worn for evening and long sleeves for day. Corsets continued to be worn. These were lightly boned and quilted, with a deep busk. Several layers of petticoats with frilled hems, sometimes of horsehair, were worn to support the full skirts. Some petticoats of the 1840s were feather-quilted. Later examples of the 1850s and 1860s were made of 'crin' and steel hoops.

other embroidered 19th century jackets:

interesting embroidery facts:

* the origins of embroidery are unknown, but early examples survive from ancient Egypt, Iron Age Northern Europe and Zhou Dynasty China
* the earliest machine embroidery used a combination of machine looms and teams of women embroidering the textiles by hand; this was done in England by the mid-1800s
* although embroidery has connotations of being the work of 19th Century housewives, it was originally a man’s profession
* the most common place to find an embroidered design on garments is on the left breast; the hypothesized reason for this is that in Western countries this is most effective at catching the viewer's eye as we read from left to right

(facts found at EDC and Slant Riggs)

March 9th Today, I am...

...this gorgeous Valentino dress!

I'm Le Gardin d'Eden dress, "a zirconium-colored tulle dress, embroidered in silk threads, with a scene of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden inspired by the painting "Adam and Eve" by Lucas Cranach in 1526, taking 2,200 hours to hand embroider"  from Valentino spring 2014 couture collection. The whole fashion show was inspired by opera - fifty-five looks for fifty-five operas. The designers, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli went for a different approach this time, the show opened with a nod to Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata. Chiuri explained, "we wanted to describe the character of each [opera's] protagonist in a primordial way." The connections were sometimes tenuous, but that didn't detract from the austere beauty of simply draped silk marocain dresses in earthy shades of sienna, green, and mahogany. "The surprise was all the animals—a veritable menagerie of them, or as the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns would've had it, a carnaval des animaux. A swan, a snake, and a peacock made from feathers that wrapped around the waistline of ballerina tutus…lions and elephants on a double-face cashmere dress and a coat (not embroidered, mind you, but built into the fabric of the garments, like a puzzle)…even a gorilla and its baby were spotted tucked amid the leather floral appliqués of an organza cape."
(from Style.com)

other Valentino S/S14 couture collection dresses:

interesting Valentino facts:

* his first job was with couturier Jean Desses in 1950 – he was just 18 years old
* Valentino launched his first collection and salon in Rome in 1960; he was famous for his full-length skirts, which stood out from the minis that were popular at the time
* a serious dog lover, Valentino owns six pugs: Milton, Monty, Maude, Margot, Maggie, and Molly
* he designed the dress that Jackie Kennedy wore to marry Aristotle Onassis
* he made a cameo appearance in The Devil Wears Prada, alongside Meryl Streep who played fictional American Vogue editor Miranda Priestly

(facts found at College Fashion and  Vogue)