November 2, 2011
Our Piñata Stripe Party Dress and all our fun striped dresses were inspired by all the great woven blankets we saw on our inspiration trip.
Behind the Design Wednesdays: Every week Tea writes about our designers’ inspiration for our current collection of clothing. For more Behind the Designs click here.
September 2, 2011
Every Friday we share a weekly behind-the-scenes photo taken in our offices at Tea. This could be anything – great employee outfits, our sources of inspiration, shots from our parties, or photos of us hard at work. For more sneak peeks behind the scenes at Tea click here.
Last week we mentioned we were hosting a Sample Sale for our local Tea fans. It was a wonderful success, with crowds of people showing up at T2 in San Francisco both weekends to buy clothes from past seasons.
Tea fans braved long lines with their children, starting early in the morning before doors were even open. Over a thousand people turned out over the two weekends.
We loved the opportunity to meet our local customers face-to-face, and meet all the kids that showed up:
A big thank you to all the volunteers who helped us set up and break down our Sample Sale! We couldn’t have done it without you. And thank you to our customers, who after hours of waiting in line still greeted us with a smile when they walked in the door. You are why we love doing what we do.
August 26, 2011
Every Friday we share a weekly behind-the-scenes photo taken in our offices at Tea. This could be anything – great employee outfits, our sources of inspiration, shots from our parties, or photos of us hard at work. For more sneak peeks behind the scenes at Tea click here.
Last week we hosted a Tea Sample Sale at our offices to clear out stock from previous seasons. Before we opened the doors to the masses (who were lined up around the block), I took a few shots of some girl’s and women’s clothes that were hanging on the racks. I love our Sample Sales for the opportunity to see patterns and styles from past seasons that I loved, and have forgotten about.
And there’s another Sample Sale this weekend, at our offices in San Francisco! $5 entry, with all entry fees going to the Global Fund for Children. Details are as follows:
Location: 117 Wisconsin Street, San Francisco 94107
Days: Friday August 26th, 9am – 3pm and Saturday August 27th, 9am – 1pm.
August 25, 2011
Our second Stylista contest of the year is officially open for submissions! Does your child love fashion? Do they enjoy creating and styling their own outfits? You may want to ask them if they’re interested in participating in our Stylista contest. Winners will receive a trip to San Francisco, and a photoshoot in Tea’s Studio. You can see photos of our last Stylista finalists here, and the winner here.
To Enter:
1.) Submit 1 photo of your child styling at least 2 pieces of our Fall 2011 collection. Have a great time with accessories and props!
2.) Visit one of our amazing participating stores for assistance with styling & photography or take your own photos and enter online.
3.) All entries must be received by Tea no later than 11:59 PT on September 30th.
Read all official rules before applying.
Enter now online, or find participating stores in your area.
August 3, 2011
Behind the Design Wednesdays: Every week Tea writes about our designers’ inspiration for our current collection of clothing. For more Behind the Designs click here.
We found this amazing Otomi embroidery in Puebla; it inspired our gorgeous embroidered Puebla Jacket. The back of the embroidery is totally gorgeous as well. Check it out!
check out more Otomi embroidery over on our pinterest board
July 19, 2011
This season we are all about outfitting! More than ever before, our Mexico-inspired line of clothing is about mixing and matching, layering, and accessorizing. This concept is great for back to school. In August the weather may still be warm, so short-sleeved shirts and dresses are in demand. As fall sets in and the weather gets cooler, layering a long-sleeve tee underneath short-sleeve items adds a layer of warmth. And as winter approaches throw on some thick cotton leggings, legwarmers, and a hat and you’ve got an outfit that is good for playing regardless of the weather.
And what better way to demonstrate this than through our customers? We’ve asked a few of our blogger friends to showcase our Back to School Fall 2011 collection, and highlight their favorite outfits. Over the next few weeks we’ll be featuring a few of these posts on Studio T.
The first blogger we talked to about this was Amy Turner of Mom Central. Her 3 year-old daughter Brooke is just starting to assert herself in regards to fashion, and has some pretty strong opinions about how she’d like to dress herself. In Amy’s words “She insists on picking out her own clothes and getting dressed all by herself, even if that means stripes matching up with polka dots and pink matching up with orange. And what gets me is her determination and strong voice. When I gently suggest a different option that may match better, she insists what she’s picked out is perfect and dismisses my opinion. Who can argue with that passion for flair?” Luckily with Tea Amy and Brooke were able to come to a happy medium – everything is made to mix and match, so there’s no clashing of colors and patterns. And hopefully those future conversations about clothes can be on hold until Brooke’s a teenager…
Brooke in the Courtyard Tile Dress layered over the skinny french terry cargo pants. Stay tuned for more upcoming posts profiling blogger’s takes on our Back to School collection!
July 6, 2011
Behind the Design Wednesdays: Every week Tea writes about our designers’ inspiration for our current collection of clothing. For more Behind the Designs click here.
Have you heard of the marimba instrument? First developed in southern Mexico and northern Guatemala, marimbas were influenced by an instrument similar to the xylophone called the balafon, which originated in West Africa.
Similar to a xylophone, marimbas have keys that the player hits with mallets. Traditional marimbas have gourds attached underneath as resonators (see above), but more modern versions have carved wooden resonators to better control the pitch. The instrument has a fun beat, and is either played solo or with other instruments. Our designers loved the playful music the marimbas makes, and designed our Marimba Mini Dress with dancing in mind!
Our Marimba Mini Dress comes in two colors – a light surf turquoise or a dark indigo blue. The flower design down the front was inspired by some of the intricate artistic carvings done along the sides of marimbas.
So what does a marimba sound like? Any ABBA fans out there may recognize marimbas at the beginning of their song Mamma Mia – one of its more famous pop appearances. Traditional marimba musical styles vary on the region and player, but below is a great example of the range of the marimba, and some history about its origins in Mexico and Guatemala:
Behind the Design Wednesdays: Every week Tea writes about our designers’ inspiration for our current collection of clothing. For more Behind the Designs click here.
Have you ever seen a bird of paradise flower? I never had, until I moved to California. They flower everywhere here, lining gardens and growing like weeds in front of stores. Sometimes I forget about them until I have visitors from out of town, who can’t believe how easily they grow in California.
Birds of paradise are popular in Mexico as well, and we couldn’t turn down the opportunity to create a dress influenced both by the flower and its namesake bird. In a mercado in Mexico City we found a woman’s shirt (above right) that became the inspiration for our Bird of Paradise dress (above left).
Lightweight poplin cotton, this dress is perfect for hot summers, and can be layered over our radish-colored leggings for cooler evenings.
Do you have a favorite bird or flower you’d like to see on a Tea dress?
June 29, 2011
Behind the Design Wednesdays: Every week Tea writes about our designers’ inspiration for our current collection of clothing.
To start off our new Behind the Design Wednesdays and to kick off our new Modern Mexico collection for girls and boys, we thought we’d post a video of footage shot while our designers were traveling around Mexico. We’ll release more of this collection in the coming weeks! We hope you feel as inspired as we do.
June 22, 2011
Peacocks were popular in the Modernisme and Art Nouveau movements (right). We especially loved these lesser known drawings of peacocks by two of Spain’s most famous artists (left), Salvador Dalí (top) and Joan Miró (bottom).
We paid tribute to all these in our fun summer Peacock Graphic Tee.
