Style Me Vintage - Tea Parties

If there's an absolute must-have drink at The Amazing Blog’s HQ that has to be tea, no doubt. As soon as we arrive to the office in the morning we turn the kettle on and choose our own favourite mugs – by the end of the day there’s a pile of them sitting on our desks…

As tea lovers, we were very excited to come across with Style Me Vintage Tea Parties: A Guide to Hosting Perfect Vintage Parties. A beautifully designed book that gives you tips and some key recipes when hosting your own tea party.

Betty Blythe, the autor of this cute book, thinks that throwing a tea party is as much about the styling as the food and drink – in this book she attaches equal importante to each. The book is splitted into themed parties, each section guides you through the key ingredients needed to style your own tea party. From how to dress the table, design your invitations, create an era-appropriate drink to key recipes and costume ideas. Style Me Vintage Tea Parties is a perfect party-planning treat.

This small book is beautifully designed and very easy to follow. If you feel creative and want to offer your friends a different plan, we definitely recommend you throwing a Tea Party with Betty Blyhte’s help.

Style Me Vintage Tea Parties is published by Pavilio. You can purchase this fabulous book from Amazon and Waterstones.

Colin Leslie Bamboo Eyewear

Sunglasses are one of my favourite accessories and are most definitely a must-have everytime I leave my house. Whether the sun is shining bright or I simply need something to hold back my hair, I always have a pair of sunglasses in my bag. Finding the perfect pair, however, can be quite a struggle. Either they're too big or small for your face, too expensive, or simply not your taste. Thankfully my colleagues at The Amazing Blog have managed to find me the perfect pair of sunglasses from Colin Leslie Bamboo Eyewear!

I fell in love with these sunglasses as soon as I saw them. They come in a variety of different styles such as a vintage, wide eyed, geeky, classic, and retro. Due to the shape of my face, my personal favourite are their aviator style sunglasses because those are the ones that look the best on me. However you couldn't go wrong with any of their glasses!

In addition to being extremely stylish, these sunglasses are eco-friendly and help to reduce our carbon footprint. All of Colin Leslie’s glasses are individually handmade and incorporate bamboo. However the bamboo used in the glasses is not wild bamboo, but instead specifically grown for production. These glasses are produced from recycled acetate frames and the pouches are made from recycled drinking water bottles. Colin Leslie’s background in carpentry ensures that all of his glasses are exquisitely made and are of the highest quality. If you are in search of the perfect pair of sunglasses, then look no further than Colin Leslie Bamboo Eyewear! You can order your pair online here.

It's vintage darling!

Want to grab someone’s attention as they walk into your home without breaking the bank on expensive art? Or show off your unique edge you have in styling your home? Well look no further – I’ve come across a brand that combines unique posters and vintage style to create the next best thing in your own interior designing adventures. AntikBar is an original vintage poster dealer website that sells one of a kind art pieces. Posters are a true form of art that use catchy messages and amazing visual artwork. They are eye catching and unique and are sure to attract admiring glances a-plenty.

Rare vintage posters reach outstanding amounts in auctions and continue to be coveted items. Thankfully, some of these wonderful items are still affordable for people like me!

It’s easy to find the perfect poster. Simply select the type of product, the country, the decade or a keyword and find dozens of wonderful posters perfect for your home. The subjects of the posters range from war to ballet to fashion. The subjects include worldwide travel, advertising, propaganda and war, performance arts and sports. You can get posters from the 1970s all the way back to the 1890s. So whatever the intended outcome, there is one out there perfect for your preferences.

They also offer original maps, travel books, reference books, antique books, costume prints, and military prints. And if you can’t afford the original prints, they also have reproduction prints that are just as great but not as pricey!

So whether you’re looking for a warm comforting piece or a dramatic colourful stand out piece of work, be sure to check out these fabulous posters on their website or look on their events page to see if Antikbar will have a stand near you sometime soon.

A Shoreditch Shopping Experience

With December upon us, most of us will be spending our free time racing to the malls and high streets in a race to get through our Christmas lists.  Shopping for loved ones is one of the best parts of the holiday season, however it can get a bit exhausting with the endless hours of department store digging and trudging through the masses on Oxford Street. If you’re looking for something to renew your excitement for the Christmas shopping experience, you will be delighted with the latest shopping concept literally popping up on the East End tomorrow (Saturday December 3^rd).  Boxpark, a pop-up shopping mall, will open in Shoreditch and will host 60 hand-selected retailers of art, fashion, and lifestyle goods as well as cafes and food venues.

             The portable mall, made up of ‘box shops', is composed of shipping crates stripped and refit to create this wide assortment of both mainstream name brands such as Nike, Calvin Klein, and Lacoste, as well as more alternative and independent labels such as Playful Promises and Farah Vintage.  The idea of this mall is to put fashion ‘back on the street’ which is exactly what it does, creating a raw and edgy experience that stands in stark contrast to pre-packaged mall chains such as Westfield that generally include all the same stores and fail to offer any kind of excitement or novelty.

 Following this trend, Boxpark also aims to include smaller local retailers by selling their spaces at affordable rates.  While you can plan on finding some of your favourite brands at Boxpark, you are also sure to stumble into some new favourites that you perhaps never would have otherwise.  This off-the-beaten-path shopping experience is surely going to be one to remember and not to miss.  While creators of the pop-up mall have plans for other possible future locations, you can have the privilege of seeing the world’s first ever pop-up mall right here in our very own Shoreditch and whilst doing so tick off a few more boxes on your Christmas list!

JJ

It's Snowing Silk & Sawdust

 

As the season begins to change and winter clothes start coming out of the attic, my mind always begins to turn over the changes in my personal fashion over the past year. My clothes from the previous year never seem to suit my new sense of style or look disgusting and I end up giving away many of my old clothes. This year I have been determined to buy smart pieces that won’t go out of style and won’t look bad after eight months in storage.  Now this goal seems to be easier said than done, until I stumbled upon the timeless pieces from Silk & Sawdust.

Silk & Sawdust is a vintage-inspired fashion label that bases their designs on the idea of timeless fashion that lasts for seasons to come. Their third Autumn/Winter collection accomplishes just that. They have taken regular styles from this season and tweaked them to create unique pieces that incorporate timeless fashion that can be worn forever. All of the designs are hand-tailored to create the most flattering designs for every person. The fabrics are carefully selected to drape every body type and make each woman feel glamorous.

Owner and designer Claudia Orrell explains: “My favourite wardrobe staples are invariably vintage pieces that are special because they’ve been made with old-fashioned tailoring skills. I felt that the attention to detail was missing in so many modern clothes.”

The Lori skirt has now jumped to my number one item on my Christmas Wish list! It may even have to be my early Christmas to myself because I can’t wait to wear this luscious silk-chiffon skirt in aqua lined with a silver grey satin. It will look fabulous walking down the street at night in the snow! You can order the Lori skirt and more of the fabulous Silk & Sawdust A/W2011 line on their website.