Outings: The Best London Museum You’ve Never Heard Of

The Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising is one of those gems that once you’ve visited you can’t understand why it’s not one of the first things that people tell you to visit. This little museum is dedicated to exactly what the name states, Brands, Packaging and Advertising. Built upon the collection of one man,…

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The Semi-Formal Dinner: The Nitty Gritty

Prior to the turn of the century, Semi-Formal would have meant black tie. Men wore tailed coats or dinner jackets, waistcoats and pumps or patent leather shoes. Bib front shirts would be starched to the extreme and if they were traveling to the event, gloves and top hat would be worn. Women would have dressed…

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All The Stuff: Breakfast Sets

I touched on this briefly when I discussed the breakfast tray and the tray cloth, but I love breakfast accoutrements and I can’t stop posting about this topic. Sorry, not sorry. Breakfast sets were china sets made specifically for both tray service and/or for your morning table service. Breakfast sets made for trays generally contained…

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Tea (Part 5) : A Few More Words On The 5 O’Clock and Formal Home Tea

In my earlier post, I mostly focused on the Upperclass and Upper Middle Class Victorian 5 O’Clock tea, which was very formal and had a specific etiquette to it. At the same time there was a less formal version of the formal home tea which might have been given in middle class homes, but also…

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All The Stuff: Hand Fans – Part 2 (Fan Details)

Here is a quick overview of fans, fan anatomy and styles. This is not exhaustive and is just meant to be a quick reference. Fan Types Fixed Fans As I said in my last fan post, the fixed fan was likely the earliest form of man made hand fan. The earliest of these is a…

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All The Stuff: Hand Fans – Part 1

“What grace the fan lends to a woman who knows how to use it!  It undulates, it flutters, it expands, it closes, it rises, it falls at will.  It is the most powerful weapon in beauty’s arsenal.” – Madame de Stael Man made fans date from around 3000 BC.  But really, what that means is that’s when we…

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All The Stuff: The Punchbowl

Oh, the lonely sad punchbowl. You see them on the bottom shelf at the goodwill. So forlorn, so forsaken. Why has this happened? I love punch. OK, in a Covid world, no one is drinking from the same bowl at the moment, but way before 2020, punch seemed to go the way of the dodo.…

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