Social media. Instagram. Tik Tok. X. Facebook. For an old-world, demure lady like the Dutchess, startled is the word to describe her astonishment when her book cover went viral.
Influencers, tea rooms, bookshops, etiquette schools and retailers have found myriads of ways to display Tea with the Dutchess: How to do anything with style. Oh my, the amount of creativity that I have witnessed going in to posts and photographs of talented book lovers, fashionistas, stylists, content creators and business owners is as impressive as it is inspiring.
The way the Dutchess is holding court amongst the other queens in the bookshops; dear Lizzie; queen of all queens, Beyonce; queen of pop and the Bridgerton ladies and the colour coordinated, and playful book displays all point to one conclusion, that you should absolutely judge a book by its cover. Now, the book cover is what I would call love at first sight, it is your presentation of yourself and a hint of the content to follow, while I dare confidently say that the word content has a different connotation today than it did a decade ago.
Content creators of today are very much like the visual merchandisers of the past. It takes talent, passion and a sense of style to highlight a product and bring forth its best side. As much thought that goes into writing, goes in to creating posts to be shared on the world wide web. It is a skill to be able to spellbind your followers, to make a product, whether it is a book or a perfume noticeable, and these wonderfully talented digital creators and bookstagrammers alike have created a whole new world of showcasing their abilities and bringing beauty and joy to us mere mortals.
While Tea with the Dutchess is a book that celebrates good old manners, politeness and poise and the Dutchess prefers ink and paper, snail mail and stamps, the value that the digital world brings to the (tea) party, has not gone her unnoticed.
Whether or not Tea with the Dutchess is the most instagrammable book in the world is debatable, but what isn’t is the fact that a new artform has emerged from an ocean of content, and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for the new generation of artists and style creators.
For more advice on etiquette, manners, interior design and how to live your life with grace, elegance and poise, read the book “Tea with the Dutchess: How to do anything with style” by Kate Gawi.
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