Wild and consumed by nature, like a scene described by Dickens in Great Expectations – an estate frozen in time, fit for the reclusive Miss Havisham herself – a "country house" in the centre of the city, surrounded by Paris' most coveted real estate, will go up for sale this week … | Continue reading
It's a name that had me instantly transfixed, like something Wes Anderson had dreamt up for his next film. The Independent Order of the Odd Fellows – a secret society for ... odd people? Why had I never heard of it? Never one to resist the pull of a promising rabbit hole, I would … | Continue reading
© Choosy TravelerWhat's gold, pink, and Amsterdam's best kept secret? The 18th century chapel-turned-AirBnB that landed in our inbox this morning, courtesy of a hot tip from our pal Holly Beach of the Choosy Traveller, who recently discovered the hidden gem and found it to be of … | Continue reading
Don't play with your food, they said. But whoever uttered those words has clearly never attended the annual "Cheese-Rolling and Wake" at Cooper's Hill in Gloucestershire, UK. Think of your favourite mischievous childhood pastime of rolling down hills, the steeper the better – and … | Continue reading
© George SteinmetzGot your archeologist's cap on? Today we invite you to touch down in Algeria and explore Timgad, a lost Roman city on the edge of the Sahara desert that remained hidden beneath the sand for nearly a thousand years. Positively obscure compared to the internationa … | Continue reading
Portrait of Ana de Velasco y Girón (1585-1607), Duchess of BraganzaThey were like snowflakes spun from silk, sought after just as feverishly as gold on the black market. Whether they were twisted with pearls or tied with silver knots, no two pieces of lace were the same in 1765. … | Continue reading
New York, New York – is there a better place to kick-off 2020? This is the city of dream chasers. The city where anyone can become a chocolatier by day and sing show tunes at night; visit an otherworldly Dream House, and bathe in a vat of red wine (true story, find it on page 98 … | Continue reading
Welcome Keyholder, to another seasonal guide to Paris, full of inspiration for kicking off the New Year right. To fill up your calendar and chase away the winter blues, we’ve been checking in with our favourite Parisian venues for unique happenings while brainstorming for creativ … | Continue reading
© Cake and CaviarWe all have things to look forward to in 2020, but you can forget all that, because it's time to get borderline obsessed with Wes Anderson's new movie. The release of The French Dispatch is imminent, so we took the liberty of digging through the interweb for behi … | Continue reading
You can almost feel the rhythm of the music through his paintbrush. Archibald Motley was one of the only artists of his time willing to vividly and positively depict African Americans in their vibrant urban culture, rather than in impoverished and rustic circumstances. Skin tone … | Continue reading
On these dark winter nights, is there anywhere else you'd rather escape to than Paris? In a time machine no less...1. Monpti (1957)Starring an adorable young Romy Schneider, this is an often overlooked film for Parisphiles who can't resist gorgeous streets scenes of the city in t … | Continue reading
Drawings, found in the hundreds, every page hand-bound, every artwork a labour of love. Why was it found in a dumpster in Springfield, Missouri, by a teenager who pulled it out in 1970? For decades, the only clue to its origins was a water mark: "Missouri State 'Lunatic Asylum' N … | Continue reading
I love the picture. I am a homosexual. Maybe if I send one of the pictures you gave to me Jim, to my nephew, he will understand how hard his uncle is struggling. Ferdinand Monette“I have the great privilege of being both witness and storyteller. Intimacy, trust and intuition guid … | Continue reading
Some stories deserve to be told in a whisper. Tales of hidden flower kingdoms on the edge of a river bank, where caterpillars dance with apple blossoms and fairies fly on butterfly wings. Such are the tales woven by 19th century children's book pioneer Ernst Kreidolf, whose metic … | Continue reading
Here at MessyNessyChic, we've spent the past decade bucket-listing the earth, finding the most off-beat, unique (and chic) places to escape and explore. And along the way, we've come across a hotel room or two that we felt deserved its place on one of those official "best hotels … | Continue reading
Kim Beom in Yellow Scream (2012)When we stumbled upon a work by contemporary artist Kim Beom, we couldn't believe our eyes, or our eardrums: the Korean artist mixes the two "mediums" together in his 2012 video work, Yellow Scream, imbuing his brushstrokes with every shriek on the … | Continue reading
Messy Nessy Chic print available to shop here.Messy Nessy's 2019 was a year on the verge. We released Don't Be a Tourist in New York, the beloved sister book to Don't Be a Tourist in Paris, and took the MNC universe to new heights with the Vault. Most of all, we had the joy and p … | Continue reading
Rue Letellier, 1939Robert Doisneau intimately knew the Paris we're forever chasing. The one where those cafés & shops lost in time are on every corner. Where the simple pleasures of life are being appreciated all around us. Where elegance is an everyday occasion. He's most famous … | Continue reading
Dorothy Arnold It's the best Agatha Christie novel that never was: the story of the disappearance of Manhattan perfume heiress, Dorothy Arnold. She was a woman about town and the belle of too many Uptown balls to count, but to this day, no one could ever figure out whether Doroth … | Continue reading
The 80s have been coming back in a big way in the past few years, especially in 2019. Stranger Things became the most-watched Netflix show, 80s blowouts made their way down the fashion week runways again, as did fanny packs, oversized blazers and scrunchies. We even found a Saved … | Continue reading
Martin Lewis died in obscurity in 1962; a retired art teacher who had found some success in his early career, but was largely forgotten after the Great Depression took away the demand for his craft, leaving Lewis to spend his last three decades teaching other people how to etch. … | Continue reading
You just never know what talent your next door neighbour might be hiding. Michael Guidry is a florist from Finleyville, Pennsylvania who has built a palatial Gilded Age dollhouse to rival the Queen of England's. For Mike, this is a hobby, which he acquired when his father first m … | Continue reading
The grotto of Linderhof CastleYou know how there's always one room at a party where the action is really going down? The Greeks and Romans saw grottos as a place for sensual, Dionysian desires to unfold; the stage of Venus, goddess of love. In contrast, these mystical chambers al … | Continue reading
Did you hear the one about the Soviet school children who gifted a US Ambassador with a plaque of the United States seal as a gesture of friendship in 1945? It hung in his Moscow office for 7 years before the Americans discovered it was bugged with a listening device. True story. … | Continue reading
Once upon a time, a woman needed a parrot tulip. Not just any tulip. "She started with something like this," explains Adam Brand, heir to his family's 4th generation flower factory business, M&S Schmalberg. He picks up a few flat, flower shaped layers of fabric. "Then we took som … | Continue reading
"My Baltimore Light Rail sweater." Sam Barsky / Instagram Not all heros wear capes. Sam Barsky, for example, wears sweaters. Nearly 200 of them at this point. The Baltimore, Maryland native has taken the internet by storm recently with his talent for knitting sweaters of, well, … | Continue reading
A cadaver used during a frontal impact test © United States Department of Transportation / Wikipedia If there's one thing Messy Nessy's editorial team has in common, it's that we've never quite been able to keep a normal 9-to-5. Which is why we love to learn about the ins-and-out … | Continue reading
Fun fact. The woman who revolutionised British print design with some of the most iconic patterns for public transport was in fact a distant cousin of Karl Marx. Her name was Enid Marx, and in 1937 she was selected by the London Passenger Transport Board to design the moquette se … | Continue reading
The 14th century hunting lodge "palace" in New Dehli, India, where the family lived. ©Terre Huite / Flickr Some stories never leave us. They take up permanent residency in our brain, resurfacing for years to come in shades of daydreams and just-before-bed thoughts. "The Jungle Pr … | Continue reading
If home is where the heart is, House (1977) is where the mind unravels. The experimental film by director Nobuhiko Obayashi is a beautiful, Surrealist venture into the horror genre that's slowly but surely getting its due credit in the Western world. Where to even begin with Mr. … | Continue reading
You trust me to take you shopping, right?! Good, because I've got something for everyone...For the Pop Culture JunkieHolly Golightly sleep mask. Available from numerous sellers on Etsy and Amazon. Make sure to print out the Breakfast at Tiffany's photo with it! If you're good wit … | Continue reading
They were made for pins, needles, pills, and any blushing secrets that could fit inside a Limoges trinket box. One of France's greatest feats of craftsmanship, the rise of Limoges porcelain traces a time of bygone luxury in France, from the 18th-20th centuries. Amongst the stunni … | Continue reading
In 1989, Nick Cave, arguably one of the greatest living lyricists, was passing through Paris with his band Bad Seeds. The baritone singer/ songwriter sat down with a French journalist for over 40 excruciatingly awkward minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUzfolKDxWgYou have … | Continue reading
US soldiers during WWIIFor so many US veterans, the real journey home begins in the head – that long, winding road to psychological stability after the traumas of service. Even today, it's a topic not easily broached given the stigmas surrounding mental health. It wasn't until 19 … | Continue reading
Der Struwwelpeter: Struwwelpeter / Wikipedia It's "lights out" for boring bedtime stories. Bye bye to the tired tropes of fairytale princesses, and errant children who somehow pull off the craziest stunts unscathed – I mean, can we just point out that Hansel and Gretel were eatin … | Continue reading
Ten bedrooms, five bathrooms, four fireplaces and 6,000 square feet – the dream fixer-upper for a bargain $50,000. So the question is, exactly how haunted is this house?The James Seymour Mansion was built in 1861 by, you guessed it, James Seymour, a notable philanthropist who had … | Continue reading
Attributed to Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger (c1561-1635) - Anne of Denmark. Rex Harris / Flickr There is bling, and then there is ye olde embroidery. Seventeenth century needlework was to the rich what, say, Alexander McQueen was for contemporary fashion. An injection of fairytal … | Continue reading
"Big Butter Jesus." ©Gyro.Pilot / FlickrThey called him Big Butter Jesus – Sweet Cream Jesus. Sometimes, Touchdown Jesus. The nicknames for the massive statue outside Monroe, Ohio's Solid Rock Church may have varied between dairy and football allusions, but its purpose was unflin … | Continue reading
ignasi / InstagramThe only thing better than putting your feet up, is putting your feet up in the luxury of Ignasi Monreal. The Spanish-born artist has become a darling du jour of the fashion scene in recent years thanks to his work for Gucci, Vogue, the Four Seasons (which incor … | Continue reading
She escaped the Gestapo twice – a glamorous socialite, fashion columnist, pianist and mother of two before the war, she went on to become the only woman to head an underground resistance network against the Nazi Occupation in France. She recruited 3,000 members, 24% of which were … | Continue reading
"Big Butter Jesus." ©Gyro.Pilot / FlickrThey called him Big Butter Jesus – Sweet Cream Jesus. Sometimes, Touchdown Jesus. The nicknames for the massive statue outside Monroe, Ohio's Solid Rock Church may have varied between dairy and football allusions, but its purpose was unflin … | Continue reading
Like a moth to a très spooky flame, esoteric figures have always flocked to Paris in pursuit of deeper, mystical truths about the universe; from medieval alchemists to cult tarot card readers; mystic bent Surrealists to a long running society of Freemasons – it's not just the way … | Continue reading
"Big Butter Jesus." ©Gyro.Pilot / FlickrThey called him Big Butter Jesus – Sweet Cream Jesus. Sometimes, Touchdown Jesus. The nicknames for the massive statue outside Monroe, Ohio's Solid Rock Church may have varied between dairy and football allusions, but its purpose was unflin … | Continue reading
1. A forgotten 300SL ‘Gullwing’ sitting in a garage in Jacksonville, FloridaEntombed in the dark, dusty, and rat-infested garage was a spellbinding 300SL, sitting silently, caked in dust and desperately lifeless, its once-glimmering chrome trim demounted and stored inside the mus … | Continue reading
https://youtu.be/xrgNBENe8kQ I hope you’ve been behaving, because I put in a good word with Santa for you! Without further ado, sit back for the premiere of MessyNessyChic’s first ever holiday message (inspired by Christmas rom-com movies from the late 90s, naturally)...And that’ … | Continue reading
Across the street from the most-visited museum in the world where 30,000 tourists pass through everyday, there's a 10,000m2 shopping mall dedicated to antiques, where you won't find a soul. Le Louvre des Antiquaires, as it was inaugurated in 1978, was once a thriving retail centr … | Continue reading
©B. / InstagramIs it just us, or does the air taste a bit sweeter today? We were browsing through Instagram as per usual, when a new Paris influencer brought our scrolling to a halt. She's not even big enough to lift a peanut, but she'll be damned if size stifles her dreams of st … | Continue reading
The Vander-Ende Onderdonk House The best adventures are often born of accident. Especially in New York City, where a re-route of your typical bodega run can lead to a time warp into colonial America. Welcome to the "Vander-Ende Onderdonk house," a place as fun to visit as it is t … | Continue reading