Photographed by Corey Villicana
Shop the look: Girl’s Bo-Kaap Trapeze Mini Dress, Girl’s Sea Gypsy Wrap-Neck Tank Dress, Women’s Colorblock Shift Dress
Posted by: Jessie
Time: 11:30 AM
Kwaito, a style of dance music from Johannesburg that is often called the sound of the new South Africa, is the rhythm behind this print. Shop the Kwaito Smocked Peplum Dress here.
Take key pieces from winter into spring. Make them work extra time by mixing and matching. Double up on layers for the colder months and when it starts to get warmer, leave the long layer at home.
Here is one of our favorite layered girls outfits:
Flower Petal Sunset Outfit
Polokwane Hoodie
Flower Petal Top
Sunset Stripe Twirl Skort
Saltwater Sandals in Yellow
For the little guy in your life, shop our Rhinos and Stripes boys outfit:
Rhino and Stripes Outfit
Sharp Sharp Chinos
Grazing Rhino Polo
Ubuntu Stripe Hoodie in Cayenne
Vans Authentic Checkboard
Nceka cloth from our South Africa inspiration trip.
On our trip to the Limpopo Region, our designers were struck by the beautiful beading and embroidery on Nceka cloths. The Nceka cloth is a traditional cloth worn over the upper body by Tsonga and Shangaan women. Oftentimes it is an indigo dyed fabric embellished with beads and safety pins by the wearer herself. Intricately embroidered Nceka cloths are saved for special occasions like weddings.
We loved the colorful and unique detail of Nceka cloths so much that we created the Mtititi Floral Tunic. You can bring home a piece of South Africa too from our girls’ tops! The over-dyed floral indigo fabric is embellished to look like the beads from traditional Nceka cloths.
Our Mtititi Floral Tunic inspired by the Nceka cloth.
Watch the Mtititi Magic video to see beading in action and learn about how Mtititi has changed the lives of women in the Limpopo Region. Video courtesy of WatchKubasa via Youtube.
Did you ever receive a bow tied perfectly that you never wanted to untie it? Fret not. We have a simple instructional video on how to tie an asymmetrical bow on a dress. We had Isabelle demonstrate on Lily’s Emmy Dress.
One of the many inspiring artists we discovered in Scandinavia was Swedish ceramicist, Lisa Larson. We loved how Larson, played with flower and leaf shapes to create creatures (pictured above). We wanted to use the same idea of creating a Scandinavian creature out of plant elements. I collected a variety of internet images and actual plant pieces that I scanned into the computer. Then came the fun part, arranging the elements to create an animal. The pieces I had worked nicely to make an owl. I then traced the owl I created with sharpies to make our Blomma Owl Girl’s Graphic Tee.
We thought it’d be a fun idea to collect leaves and flowers with your children and see what kind of creatures you can create. I found these amazing leaf creations (below) by kokokoKids over on My Barn Owl.
Just the other day I found these awesome leaf cut cars on The Art Room Plant.
We want to see what you create with your kids? Post them on our facebook page!
The following is written by Emily Meyer, Tea Collection’s Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer.
How awesome is Modern Family the TV show?! It’s so funny and I just love the weave of contemporary themes and some of the most socially relevant story telling. It turns out that the actress that plays Lily, Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, is a huge Tea fan!
I met Aubrey’s mother, Amy Anderson Emmons, at the Mom 2.0 bloggers conference in May … she was super friendly and spoke about managing the social media audience for Aubrey’s fan base. I introduced myself and she said they knew Tea, that Aubrey even had a couple of pieces … I mentioned that we would LOVE to dress Aubrey for any special occasions.
Well … I was travelling overseas just a few weeks ago and received an email from Amy – she says Aubrey is going to the Emmy’s and asked if we would be interested in dressing her? Of course!! What an awesome project and it would be an honor for us!
Marjorie, our designer, was traveling with me – we immediately started brainstorming in the courtyard of our hotel at 12:30am!! Marjorie sketched. We started with our iconic wrap neckline styling and created a bubble in the skirt for fun, matching Aubrey’s playful personality. Then we added a sash similar to one we had seen on the traditional Korean costume, called a hanbok.
Our amazing Technical Design team drafted the pattern and made a prototype before we returned home from the trip. We found beautiful silk taffeta fabric at Britex in downtown San Francisco. And then I went to LA to visit Aubrey in person to try on the dress. The sash captivated Aubrey and the wrap neckline was gorgeous on her – elegant and youthful.
Ana, Tea's photographer, with Aubrey as she tries on her Emmy's dress for the first time.
Marjorie traveled to LA herself to help Aubrey get dressed, including final touches, for the big event.
Marjorie helping Aubrey pick out the perfect shoe.
I am so proud of our team for making this happen so fast and so beautifully. It’s literally the art of couture, globally-inspired, made with heart and soul.
Our latest diy project was inspired by the Lunefuld Dress’ whimsical flowers. Create bouquets for pennies rather than benjamins.
DIY tissue paper flowers
Materials:
-pencils
-scissors
-thin cardboard (we used a file folder)
-green pipe cleaners
-rainbow variety of tissue paper
Step 1: Start drawing flower petal shapes onto thin cardboard. Download our flower petal template or draw some free hand designs of your own.
Step 2: Cut out flower petals from cardboard and start tracing the shapes onto tissue paper.
*Tip: Fold the tissue paper into quarters to trace once but get 4 times as many petals.
Trace petals onto issue paper. Repeat, repeat, repeat.
Step 3: Cut out the flower petals. The more petals the better!
Our organized tissue paper flower petals.
Step 4: Lay them out and start stacking your petals. The biggest petal will be the first one you poke onto the pipe cleaner.
Biggest petals on the bottom and smallest on top.
Step 5: Poke your petals onto the pipe cleaner. Push only about 1/8 down the pipe cleaner, then fold the top 1/2 inch down to form a nub, so the flower petals can’t escape.
Fold the pipe cleaner down like so.
Step 6: After all desired petals are safely secured onto your pipe cleaner, gather the petals into a cone shape with your hands to create a ‘blooming’ look.
Gather petals for a blooming look
Once you start it’s hard to not get carried away.
A complete tissue paper flower