"This is New Zealand's Titanic," said one scientist who dedicated several years of his career to searching for the 8th Wonder of the World – thought to be lost forever – destroyed by a massive volcanic eruption in 1886 that devastated the natural landscape. Known to the Māori peo … | Continue reading
Introducing the Messy Nessy Movie House, a library of movie recommendations, tailored to your interests. Never again be stuck for movie choices with our carefully-curated list featuring all the stories, themes and styles that you've either read about or would expect to find throu … | Continue reading
Image: AP Fifty years ago, their revolution emerged like a Phoenix from the ashes. It was 1969, and a fire had just destroyed the San Francisco American Indian Center, which had proved an indispensable resource for over 30,000 members of the urban indigenous population. With no o … | Continue reading
Sacred Hearts at Santuario San Cosimo Alla Macchia, Oria, Italy / FlickrIt should come as no surprise that some of the world's most fascinating collections are found in churches. But today we're not talking about Florence's abundance of Renaissance murals or the Baroque masterpie … | Continue reading
Peaky Blinders fans, hold onto your flat caps. In the heart of "Black Country", an area of the West Midlands that became Britain's own furnace, powering the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, an entire 26 acre village exists for you and I to experience a day in the life o … | Continue reading
Readers of a certain age may remember its arrival well: developed by Apple and released in 1984 with the OG Macintosh Computer, it was our planet's first taste of fancy graphics editing, and it was available to absolutely everyone. For a price, of course (the first Mac cost the 2 … | Continue reading
1. The Louvre's Pyramid Turns 30 with an Epic Optical IllusionThe world-renowned street artist JR used 2,000 pieces of paper to make the museum’s iconic glass pyramid look like it it’s rising from a quarry. Follow JR on Instagram. 2. Just nature, adapting to a hostile | Continue reading
For those who remember the Automat, the mere mention of the word taps into a wellspring of nostalgic, pungent memories. Clutching a handful of fat nickels, peering into the little glass doors framed in brass, choosing from the chicken pot pies, the cream cheese & chopped pecan sa … | Continue reading
Boris & Michelle Vian with Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Paris 1949 © Manciet/ Sipa“Change your life today. Don’t gamble on the future, act now, without delay.” ― Simone de BeauvoirShe was an inspiring lady that Simone de Beauvoir; the prolific French writer and philosoph … | Continue reading
Artus Claessens, 17th Century Still-lifes make delicious little voyeurs out of all of us. No matter the era to which they belong, they always give us the sense that we're spying on a table set for a night of romance, gluttony, or a secret rendez-vous. A clandestine scene where on … | Continue reading
Every once in a while, we unearth a story so out-of-this-world it deserves its own tacky sci-fi movie. Today's story turns the clock back to 1959, when the Cold War was hot and a scientist named Jack Frost was breaking a sweat over a top-secret military project: the flying saucer … | Continue reading
Airbnb has done again. Travel and lifestyle blogs are abuzz with news of the company's latest PR stunt: the chance to win a night with the Mona Lisa at the world-famous Musée du Louvre in Paris. Only VIP super humans like the Obamas and Beyoncé & Jay Z have had the chance to take … | Continue reading
On a steamy summer night in 1981, it wasn't odd to find David Bowie and tossing around a blow-up ball in an underground discotheque pool or Grace Jones singing "La Vie en Rose" on a Harley Davidson surrounded by Paris' premiere drag queens at clubs like Le Palace. A big, playful … | Continue reading
This one goes out to Generation Y...Part of being a collector means taking a bit of risk and making a prediction that something might appreciate in value. The key is often to find something that's cheap and rare, and buying it before everyone else discovers they want it too. I wa … | Continue reading
© Romain VeillonOf all the stories of crazed dictators and corrupt regimes built on nepotism, the Suharto legacy might just be the most scandalous. The youngest son to one of the most brutal leaders in recent history, Tommy Suharto's tale fits somewhere on the same shelf as Pablo … | Continue reading
Under the Trees; Sous Les Arbres. Kuroda Seiki (1866-1924). What happens when a samurai puts down his sword, and picks up a paintbrush? In 1868, feudal Japan was steamrolled by a new decade known as the Meiji Restoration. Western influences flooded every crevice of the country’s … | Continue reading
1. Artist uses packaging materials to make ye olde garmentsDiscover the incredible work of Suzanne Jongmans.2. This Extraordinary Folk Art Antique French Shell Palace For Sale(Dimensions: H 45 cm x W 41 cm x D 75 cm). Asking price: | Continue reading
Where would Friday Kahlo shop if she was alive today? She's still one of the most revolutionary and influential women in modern culture, so naturally, you might be wondering – where can you get a wardrobe like hers these days? Those colourful folksy prints, artisanal embroidery a … | Continue reading
A 16th century drawing of a blemmyaeMonsters once lived at the heart of pop culture, albeit during what was arguably the weirdest time to be alive: the Middle Ages. In intrepid, faraway lands you'd find them: neckless men with their faces in their stomachs – known as "blemmyae" – … | Continue reading
Watanabe Katsumi was the king of treading lightly. As a drifting photographer, his lens was a stealthy observer of Tokyo's red light district, snapping hundreds of photos of its drag queens, gangsters, prostitutes, and other fringe society members in the 1960s and 70s. Few dared … | Continue reading
What shall we keep a keen eye out for at our next expedition to the flea market? Tramp Art! No I haven't just insulted you, I'm talking about the little-known and often misunderstood branch of outsider art; curiously whittled wood works intricately carved from discarded cigar box … | Continue reading
It's 1981, and the air on-set for the new 007 flick, For Your Eyes Only, overflows with so much sex appeal you could cut it with a knife. A coterie of bikini-clad "Bond Girls," all bathed in sunshine and ready to snap a press photo with Roger Moore, smile into the camera to captu … | Continue reading
© Bruce DavidsonPeople forget that in 1979, New York was burning. To relive it today would almost be like entering an unrecognisable dystopian society where street gangs ruled the city after the sun went down. Times Square's Disney stores were occupied by peep shows and crack den … | Continue reading
1. Europe’s First Underwater RestaurantAt the tip of Norway, beneath the icy waters of the North Atlantic in Lindesnes, Under is a restaurant five and a half meters below the surface in Norway, exposing you to the wonders beneath the sea.2. A Perfect New Life in Newfound | Continue reading
It begins with the first sightings of cherry blossoms, those warm evenings that take you by surprise and before you know it, Spring is in full swing. To kick off the season right, I’ve been busy compiling my social calendar for Springtime in Paris...Now until Dec 31st: Inside Va … | Continue reading
Ah, Death. The last taboo – or one of them, and especially in America. "I think a lot of people assume I'm out here hunting animals, which just isn't the case," Amber Maykut tells us in her New York City taxidermy studio, "I study them. I love them." Her workspace is tucked away … | Continue reading
Joyce Bryant in one of Zelda's designs. Image: Carl Van VechtenNot a month seems to go by without a new blackface controversy or cultural insensitivity courtesy of the biggest names in the fashion industry. The good news is, we're finally entering an era that just doesn't let it … | Continue reading
The idea of the celebrity fashion line dates as far back as 1850, when a wildly popular Swedish opera singer named Jenny Lind decided to top up her high-grossing ticket sales with a range of Jenny Lind-branded merchandise, including gloves, bonnets and shawls. Then came silent fi … | Continue reading
Processed with VSCO with 4 presetI'm no art collector but I do confess I like to hang a lot of things on my walls. I prefer not to worry about what's gaining value on the market or where I can find an original so-and-so. In fact, I take pleasure in finding art on the internet – t … | Continue reading
Ghost ships of the Aral Sea © young shanahanOnly 30 years ago, this was home to our planet's 4th largest inland water mass; an ancient sea so vast, even Alexander the Great wrote of his struggles to cross it; where fishing commerce boomed and holidaymakers once flocked to its sea … | Continue reading
Some of us can recall that day in school when the teacher dumped a bag of cowrie shells on their desk, and decreed, "See this? This used to be money!" Seashells were used as money across the world well into the 1800s. Up to 150 years ago the cowrie shell was the preferred currenc … | Continue reading
1. A Bedouin woman from Muscat, Oman, ca. 1905She is wearing a ‘batula’, a traditional face covering. If you go out into the rural regions of Oman today you will still see elderly women wearing something similar, but generally with a veil in addition. However, they usually call i … | Continue reading
We could play a game here to start off. I could show you a series of ten vintage photographs and you guess which ones were taken in Paris and which ones were taken in Egypt. And to make it interesting, let's say you get 2 seconds per photo to decide. Ready? Okay go – from the top … | Continue reading
A design for "Queen of the Night"[/caption]Nineteenth century Russia was restless, and so was Léon Bakst. The young man belonged to a new generation of creatives, one ready to turn Realism on its head with one flick of a bejewelled, utterly fabulous wrist. Today, his name is "a b … | Continue reading
© Ilkka Jukarainen/ Flickr.These are also the places that will confuse the heck out of aliens if they ever do land on this planet. From the forests of Finland to the subtropical mountains of Mexico, we've come across some many magical gardens over the years and thought it was abo … | Continue reading
Most people know me for my Paris secrets, but London is the city that raised me for 25 years and you don’t forget an old friend that easily.I still remember my hidden Sunday pubs, my mother’s little go-to markets and all the urban secrets first discovered on field trips with my f … | Continue reading
Welcome to the first instalment of a brand new Messy Nessy series for collectors, vintage lovers, flea market fanatics and really anyone who just likes to learn about oddities that you may one day stumble across in a thrift store and have that "ah-hah!" moment. Today's item? Vint … | Continue reading
Search “psychic” in New York City on Google Maps, and you’ll be flooded with addresses of not only psychics, but astrologers, tarot card readers, palm readers, and others invested in the business of the esoteric. This is a city where the supernatural thrives, where even in the mi … | Continue reading
“This is China? It looks like a fairyland,” was Nessy’s first reaction to Li Ziqi’s (李子柒) vlogs. Our team watched, entranced, as Ziqi scurried through the misty morning air of her village, dutifully followed by not one but three baby animals (two puppies and lamb); we observed he … | Continue reading
1. This Art Nouveau Sleeping Beauty in Cairo, EgyptThis is an old castle was owned by Abdel Salam Khalil Pasha. It was designed by the famous Italian architect Antonio Lasciac, who designed a lot of castles in Egypt in different architectural style ranging from neo-Baroque to Art | Continue reading
Concept artwork © TryingtoflyIn the frosty forest of Nordmarka, Norway, the seeds have been quietly planted to save the future of the written word. Every year for the next 100 years, 100 famous authors have pledged to each write a novel that will remain unpublished until the 22nd … | Continue reading
Ushguli, Goergia © RichardWhen you're looking to escape the tedium of modern and mainstream tourism, sometimes the only way is up. Today, our armchair travels will take us to some of the most remote (and highest) villages in the world, from middle America to roof of Egypt. But of … | Continue reading
Baroque pulpit ca.1750. Parish church in Dobroszów, a village in Poland.Life is simply too short not to explore the strangest depths of design, which, in all honesty, are usually the most innovative. Case in point: exploring the world of antique fish pulpits in Eastern Europe, re … | Continue reading
Cyd Charisse and Fred Astaire in "Band Wagon" © MGM ArchivesThe first time I saw this Cyd Charisse dancing was on a VHS copy of Singing in the Rain that I'd been gleefully gifted by my parents. With a total of just seven minutes airtime and not a single line of dialogue spoken, s … | Continue reading
Sometimes, you hear what you wanna hear. Especially in Hollywood, where a coconut steps in for the hooves of a horse, and squishing canned dog food is meant to mimic the sounds of aliens and monsters. It’s all a part of “Foley” making, a term coined after Jack Foley, who pioneere … | Continue reading
Main Street, AmsterdamThere's something a little off about the storefronts on Main Street in the town of Amsterdam in Upstate New York. There are mannequins dressed in the windows, but at a second glance, the store spaces behind them look eerily empty and dark. Another sign taped … | Continue reading
“They were one of the finest fucking rock bands of their time,” David Bowie told Rolling Stone magazine in 1999. They were called “Fanny,” and they were a breath of fresh air in an industry where few women, let alone all-girl groups, were given the space to rock out. Fanny saw th … | Continue reading
There’s a certain anatomy to a makeover scene, but it always promises a drab to glam transformation – which is why the initiative of one Australian bank is going down as one of the most fabulous in history. “The things that matter to [us] are the same things that matter to our cu … | Continue reading