Tag: tea

Categories / Women's Fashion

Hailey Wrap Dress from Monsoon

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Floralwrap

With the sunshine's arrival floral prints are everywhere you look in fashion, meaning plenty of extra choices for a variety of retro looks. While many may be distinctly modern, Monsoon's Hailey Wrap Dress taps into vintage inspiration in both print and silhouette.

The wrap shape, invented in the 1970s, retains some of the original era's charm and figure-flattering appeal. The print, however, is more evocative of a forties aesthetic, meaning the dress is ideal for adapting to either era's look. Dressed with the right accessories, this dress is a great wardrobe filler for those of us who like to chop and change our retro influences.

Get it now from Monsoon for £55.

Find out more from the website

Categories / Design and Interiors, Food and Drink

Portmeirion Originals: re-issues from the 1950s and ’60s

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Portmeirion mug

2010 is Portmeirion's 50th anniversary and the celebrations began last year with the limited re-release of the Magic Garden coffee set. They're also going back to the archives for Portmeirion Originals, re-issues of some of their designs from the 1950s and 60s. 

The range uses some of Susan William-Ellis' most famous and distinctive designs. Pictured is the 1964 designed Variations mug, which apparently was one of her favourites. There's also the Dolphin mug from 1959, the Magic City from 1966 and, my favourite, the Totem mug, originally designed in 1963. 

If you can't track down one of the originals, these re-issues cost £15 each 

See them online

Categories / Design and Interiors, Food and Drink

Royal Albert English Chintz hostess set

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Royal Albert Chintz

The Royal Albert china company is celebrating its centenary and is dipping into its archives to celebrate, reproducing designs such as this English Chintz hostess set. 

The set has a typically 1940s look with its dotty and floral pattern and gold trim. It's also got a generously sized plate with plenty of space for a dessert to go with your cup of tea. One of several hostess sets available, you can also get sets featuring designs dating from 1910 and 1970 though they all share the same traditionally chintzy look. 

This set costs £30.

Buy it from the newly relaunched Selfridges website

Categories / Design and Interiors, Food and Drink

Angie Lewin for St Jude’s mugs

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Lewin mug

It was only couple of weeks ago we told you about tea towels Angie Lewin had designed for St Jude's first collection of homewares. We also mentioned how they were also planning to do their own mug range. And here it is…

The bone china mugs feature the same designs you can get on the tea towels, plus a few others such as the dandelion design shown here and the Skye mug. All the mugs use the same muted colour palette and share the same retro feel. 

The mugs cost £7.25 each.

Buy them from Illustrated Living

Categories / Film and TV, Food and Drink, Homeware

Test card mug

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Test card mug

Back in the days before we had hundreds of channels of TV available 24 hours a day, the test card was a familiar sight. This test card mug features what was perhaps the most commonly remembered test card, the one showing a girl playing noughts and crosses with clown.

Officially known as test card F, it was first broadcast in 1967 and this version was used on the BBC until 1999. It's also been spoofed many times, by everyone from Johnny Vegas to The Mighty Boosh. 

Perfect for supping from while you watch the telly, the mug costs £6.46.

Buy it from Make International

Categories / Design and Interiors, Food and Drink

Deco-style teapot from London Transport Museum

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Marty teapot 2

The wealth of the London Transport Museum advertising archives has been dipped into again, to produce this Deco-style teapot. It's part of a new tableware range based around the 1930s posters by Andre Edouard Marty. 

The illustration on the porcelain teapot comes from the poster 'As We Dance Around', commissioned for the Underground Electric Railways Company Limited. It was produced in 1931 and the shape of the pot draws inspiration from this period. 

Separate cups and milk jugs are available, each with a similar look. Each product comes in an presentation box which gives further details on the posters and artist and makes it an ideal gift for any elegant, tea-supping types you may know. 

The teapot costs £32.99. 

Buy it from the London Transport Museum shop