"Find yourself a cup of tea; the teapot is behind you. Now tell me about hundreds of things." - Saki


According to legend, tea was first discovered by the Chinese emperor, Shen Nung (2737-2697), when he was boiling some drinking water. To create his fire he was using twigs from a wild tea bush and a gust of wind blew some of the tea leaves into his boiling water. The happy accident resulted into what is now the second most consumed beverage in the world (after water) and that my dears is tea.


Oh wonderful, wonderful tea! A drink that changed an entire empire (the British), seeped in ancient tradition (the Japanese), and evokes lovely images of vintage teacups, lace linens, and flouncy dresses (me and many others that share my sentiments).

As you may have already guessed, I am deeply fascinated by history, fashion, and food. So when all three come together, it's like a giant cosmos of happiness on my part. So, here is a little tidbit that puts all three together.


The modern day "Earl Grey Tea" was named after The Second Earl of Grey (Charles Grey) who had a love affair with Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire who herself was a hugely influential fashion icon in the late 1700s when she would arrive at parties with 3 foot ostrich feathers on her already 3 foot tall hair styles.

Credits: If you are interested in learning anymore about Tea or Georgiana, I recommend these books as I gathered the information here from them.

"A History of World in 6 Glasses" by Tom Standage. And "Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire" by Amanda Foreman. All images from We♥It

Zooey Deschanel, the darling of vintage dress wearers. Whether she's appearing on the red carpet or charming us with her old fashioned crooning (the latter is this post's fashion focus), we love how she so often chooses to wear vintage dresses for her performances.

For Zooey Deschanel Vintage inspired dresses, visit our Zooey Style section in the shop! { Zooey Style }




Credits: ZooeyDeschanel.net, 1st Photo by Something Started Crazyy (flickr), 5th Photo by Nik Sibley

We've joined forces with The Vintage Mama for a spur of the moment Summer Giveaway! Enter to win a $25 GIFT CERTIFICATE at our shop Adore Vintage. Details reposted below from The Vintage Mama's Blog.

Win a fabulous $25 gift certificate to shop Adore Vintage. All you have to do is pop on over to her shop, browse through her fab finds and comment here on your favorite item and where you would wear it . Here are 2 of my faves:

Want an extra entry? Tweet this contest, follow me on twitter and/or follow Adore Vintage on twitter! Winner will be randomly selected (via Alfalfa picking a name out of a fedora) and will be announced here on Thursday July 22.

Here are the specifics again:

• Visit Adore Vintage and pick a favorite item


• Leave a comment here on which item you picked and where you would wear it to


• For additional chances follow me and/or Adore Vintage on twitter (make sure you send us a tweet with the hashtag #winvintage)


• You can tweet this contest (again make sure you mention @TheVintageMama or @AdoreVintageCom AND use the hashtag #winvintage)


• Contest will close Wednesday, July 21st midnight Pacific time.


• Winner will be randomly selected and notified by email and posted on this blog on Thursday July 22nd.

Good luck!

I know it was just a month ago that I first posted about Lily Elsie, but I find her so beautiful that I had to do another post so soon!


Lily Elsie (LE): They called me Little Elsie.

Spencer Edwards (SE): It may be supposed, then, that you commenced your professional career when quite a child?

LE: That was so. I sang ballads. Some friends were flattering enough to call me the infant Patti.

SE: And you took to the stage, I suppose, as the duck takes to water?

LE: Well, I played in the pantomime Red Riding Hood [at the Queen's Theatre, Manchester, Christmas 1896] when I was only eleven years of age, and, subsequently, I went to the [music] halls. My first regular engagement for theatrical work was a tour of M'Kenna's Firtation [a farce by E. Selden, first produced at the Opera House, Coventry, 1 August 1892].

SE: A natural sequence, I see. First the flirtation, then regular 'engagements,' and now the honeymoon - A Chinese Honeymoon.

LE: You may put it that way if you like (laughing sweetly).

---

Lily Elsie with her toy terrier dog.
LE: There, mamma, that's what I should like to do when I'm a woman!' Of course, there was an indignant chorus of the 'hush' sort, and the wonder was that I was not led out and taken home in disgrace. - (Lily proclaiming to her Mama that she wants to be an actress at the age of 8)

---

These are just snippets from an interview with Lily Elsie. (Credits and links to follow)

Credits: G. Spencer Edwards, The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, London, Saturday, 28 May 1904. { Full Interview }

I am so in love with this old stone house, can I just move in for the summer, please? I love the rustic & primitive charms and all of the bleached linens. These photos are from a farmhouse near the the small village of Lussan. You can find many more photos at Living Inside (Italian)

I adore this sort of dancing. It's silly and simple and you feel as if you could just jump right in and snappity snap get into the groove of things.

My all time favorite dance scene of course is Audrey Hepburn in "Funny Face" when she is in the "Beatnik" bar in Paris. Oh, Audrey, how I love thee!

This week at Adorevintage we're bringing you lots of pretty little extras to top off your ensembles. Be sure to check out { the shop } to see more images and to call first dibs!

The Famous Words Marie Antoinette Did NOT Say. Although the young princess of France is associated with this phrase, it was actually first written by philosopher Jean-Jaques Rousseau in reference to the large gap between the rich and the poor in society at that time. And when he had written this (around 1766), Marie Antoinette was only 10 years old, not yet the Queen of France, not for another 4 years anyway.

The actual phrase written in French is "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche", brioche being less fancy than cake (but still quite delicious if we might add). The brioche has been around as far back as the middle ages and consists of plenty of eggs and butter.



Image Credits: Marie Antoinette in Muslin Dress, Still Life With Brioche painted by Jean Baptiste Siméon Chardin. Modern imagery from We♥It

Hope all of you Stateside gals have fun plans for Independence Day Weekend! Here are some vintage outfit inspirations from a few of our favorite fashion bloggers.



Fashion Credits: 1.]Slanellestyle, 2.] The Clothes Horse, 3.] Alma Luna, 4.] Dasha S., 5.] Ziuta, 6.] Patricia Prieto, 7.] Jess Loves Fred, 8.] Another Day to Dress Up, 9.] Tiny Toadstool

A new feature for the AV Blog, "WEAR & SEEK" will be a pairing of one of our beloved vintage items with a beloved photograph. Vintage textiles can be so inspiring sometimes! We chose this image because it reminds us of the arbor print on this vintage 1950s bombshell maillot.


WEAR: Vintage 1950s Golden Poplars Maillot, $168
SEEK: Yellow Walnut Flowers, Flickr