Couture in a Teacup

Ulyana Sergeenko

Life would be so much more glamorous if women wore more day dresses.  Thanks to the impeccable style of glamorous Russian designer Ulyana Sergeenko (wife of Russian insurance billionaire Danil Khachaturox, No. 634 Forbes Billionaire List), the vintage inspired, curve-flattering 1940’s tea dress is having a fashion revival.  Tea Dresses are the Keep Calm and Carry On antidote to comfortable trousers and corporate suits. What I’m particularly excited about is that cinched-in waists and hourglass silhouettes are back in style. About time! It seems Ulyana, Nigella Lawson and Myself are not the only fans of butter (oops sorry, I meant curves). Vera Wang, one of fashion’s most spectacular advocates of Dresses over Trousers and huge fan of a good strong cuppa, has put Tea Dresses with vintage Wedgwood teacup patterns on the catwalk for her 2012 collection. Short of sewing warm scones in the sleeves, Vera Wang’s dresses are just a Petit Four and cucumber sandwich away from being Wearable High Tea.

Rather disappointingly, my teacup collection has yet to hit the catwalk. One can dream. Nonetheless, going teacup shopping (in Tea Dress of course) is almost as endorphic as placing a shiny new pair of Pradas into my shoe cupboard.

Living in the country and 17,000km away from Selfridges hasn’t remotely curbed my endorphin-inducing  teacup foraging ways. Mainly because there’s a world of vintage teacup treasures to be found in Daylesford's under cover version of Portobello Market in Notting Hill, namely Mill Market.

Many leisurely Sunday afternoons have been spent perusing through the Mill’s 120 antique stalls; almost every second one crammed with Queen Anne, Royal Albert, Villeroy & Boch, Wedgwood, Rosenthal, Royal Doulton and the fabulous chintz of Royal Winton. Teacups are best purchased with side plate, of course. Where will you put the homemade scones otherwise? The most expensive teacup 3-piece at Mill Market is around $40 - $70. This could be for a 1920’s Foley. Or an even rarer 1885 Majolica Lily of the Valley by German manufacturer, Villeroy & Boch.  However the majority of authentic fine china 3-piece sets range between $15 -$30. Incredible value when you think that a new Rosenthal Versace Les Reves Byzantins Tea Cup and Saucer sell for £145.

I've never given much thought as to why the Tea is in Tweed, Tea & Wellies, beyond knowing that I love collecting beautiful teacups. Until the other day, when I had an inspired (possibly Mensa worthy) revelation about why I’m so teacup obsessed. The worlds of bone china cups and fashion are intertwined. Genius. Could I possibly have just discovered the Butterfly Effect of Fashion?

The genius continues. Butterflies are notably the hottest design motif of 2012; in fashion and in fine bone china! Not exactly new inspiration given that the Butterfly has been ping-ponging between fashion and teacups for over 100 years.

It all started back in Edwardian days when Downtown Abbey could have been a reality TV show. Young designer, Daisy Makeig-Jones designed a metallic glazed porcelain (lusterware) range for Wedgwood based on illustrated children’s’ books of the 1890’s. Wedgwood called the collection “Fairyland Lustre.” Heavily detailed, brightly hued, two handled teacups with names like "Fairy Gondola", "Butterfly Women" and "Leap-frogging Elves" appealed to the public, starved of whimsy from the difficult post-war years. Wedgwood stopped producing "Fairyland" in 1929. Today Makeig-Jones' work, in particular “Butterfly Woman” is a rare collector’s item, spending more time in and out of Sotheby’s and prestigious museums (including the London V&A) than in service at morning tea.

Archive Butterfly, Jasper Conran Blue Butterfly, Harlequin Butterfly

Wedgwood clearly loves their famous 1920’s Fairyland butterfly because they recently revived it in fine style across three new collections. In the heritage Archive collection, with an art nouveau Butterfly design that pays tribute to the era of its celebrity predecessor. Whereas Harlequin Butterfly is a more modern interpretation, with gold and pink floral design, gold banding and an ornate butterfly handle. 

And the piece de resistance, Blue Butterfly; a Wedgwood collaboration with fashion designer Jasper Conran (son of design icon, Terence Conran). This simple, yet beautiful cup appears to be the Tipping Point that shifted fashion's attention back to porcelain cup patterns. The Butterfly pattern in particular.

Anna Sui was the first to be mesmorised by The  Butterfly Effect; threading her iconic butterfly motif across collections for the last few years. Her latest tribute are Butterfly Tights, a hot favourite with New York fashionistas. 

The rest of the fashion industry are now seeing the writing in the tea leaves and racing around with large butterfly nets.

Over one quarter of the catwalk collections in 2012 have included butterfly motifs in one way or another. The king of couture, Valentino made beautifully delicate neck detailing out of butterflies. Helen Mirren attended the Dolce & Gabbana Fall 2012 catwalk show during Milan Fashion Week wearing a stunning floral and butterfly printed dress with long sleeves by Dolce & Gabbana. Burberry is creating butterfly accessories. Even Gucci put the butterfly centre stage in their Autumn/Winter 2012 Menswear Collection.

All this to say...Its a beautiful world we live in when Butterflies can influence fairytales, teacups, history, fashion, design and Valentino. Time for a cuppa (and some online shopping for tea dresses by Ulyana Sergeenko.)

If you enjoyed this article please LIKE us on Tweed Tea and Wellies Facebook page here. We'd love that! Also whilst you're at it why not follow us on Twitter @pradagoesrural