1. Mystery image of the day Having real trouble finding any information at all about this photograph that’s been uploaded onto the internet. Any leads would be appreciated! Found via Tumblr. | Continue reading
According to popular legend, there was once a female Pope – Pope Joan, who reigned for two years between 855 and 857 before coming to a very sticky end. If you’ve never heard of her, it’s hardly surprising as her existence has been questioned for centuries and her name wiped from … | Continue reading
Cast your eye over the creations of Jacques Griffe, and one can’t help but wonder why a designer so acutely gifted doesn’t also boast a couture legacy similar to that of many of his contemporaries. Griffe closed his business in the late 1960s despite earning his reputation as one … | Continue reading
There is a sizeable gap in the documentation of Black American history. So often, what we see of Black history is limited to slavery and the Civil War or the Harlem Renaissance and the civil rights era. Record of African Americans during the Gilded Age – prospering African Americ … | Continue reading
1. This must be the place Maydelle, Texas – interesting little backstory on this place here. 2. Hemingway and Dalì’s Venetian Vacation Home A corner of Holland in the Venetian Lagoon, the Casone di Valle Zappa was built between 1923 and 1928 in a thriving fishing, bird watching a … | Continue reading
It’s the Year 232, cccording to the French Republican Calendar. If a wine’s vintage is decided by the year the grapes were harvested, wouldn’t it be fitting for France to celebrate the New Year at harvest time? At the turn of the 19th century, that’s just what France did. With th … | Continue reading
Remember the supermodel-celebrities of the nineties, the ones who wouldn’t get out of bed for under $10 000 a day? Casting a glance a little further back into fashion history, there’s a host of equally noteworthy style muses with diverse achievements in politics, education, liter … | Continue reading
1. An ostrich jockey in the streets of Brussels, 1933 Photographer by Jacques Hersleven, colorised by RDB Colors. 2. Concept art for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) Found on the Art behind the Magic. | Continue reading
If you were a late 19th century sex worker, shoplifter, gangster, confidence artist, or petty thief, chances are your path would have crossed with the high priestess of misdemeanour, Old Mother (‘Marm’) AKA the ‘Queen of Fences’ Mandelbaum and her curated network of wickedly skil … | Continue reading
1. The Brain-boggling art of Mattias Adolfsson Have a look through his world here. 2. A Rooftop Cottage for sale in the East Village, NYC Found on Zillow. | Continue reading
If you ever wondered whether the “Années Folles” really were ‘that crazy’ – we’re here to confirm that it was. Drunkenness, debauchery, drama and nudes, the bal des Quat’z’Arts (four arts ball) had it all; it’s little wonder then, that from its inception at the turn of the centur … | Continue reading
1. Cupid on the Move Works by Michelangelo Maestri, found on Gods and Foolish Grandeur. 2. “Married to the Eiffel Tower”, a documentary about women who fall in love with objects 3. | Continue reading
Even the most expensive VIP box seat at the Superbowl has nothing on this. Rewind to 1968 and we’re at the gilded Astrodome stadium in Houston, Texas. This luxurious and flamboyant stadium was the brainchild of Roy Hofheinz, a former mayor of Houston and sports super fan who spen … | Continue reading
François ‘Féral’ Benga glances at us from black-and-white photographs, immortalised in a sculptural pose, large soulful eyes turned skywards as if to say, I am indeed a celestial creature. Hard to believe, but this lithe of limb and cacao-butter-sleek heavenly vision of a man was … | Continue reading
Not many picture-perfect chocolate-box towns have anything to do with chocolate. They’re simply sweet to look at. But come with me to the outskirts of Britain’s second city, Birmingham, and you’ll see a model village that wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for chocolate. The always esse … | Continue reading
1. Pasta in Bed Pasta-inspired bedsheets, unfortunately only available in the AI-universe for the moment. Created by Paul Octavius. Check out his salad sheets here. | Continue reading
Rest assured, the roots of fashion have never really been straight. Weaving in and out of contemporary culture, lesbians have been creating sapphic waves of influence on the mainstream style codes for generations; quietly, but surely. You know Una “Lady Troubridge” Vincenzo, even … | Continue reading
Let us take a look inside the classical grandeur and neo-romanticism that flows through the oeuvre of Emilio Terry. A maximalist from the school of more is most definitely more; Terry was an artist, architect, interior decorator, and darling of French society. Parisian born, he w … | Continue reading
1. These 1980s Dollhouses, made for an architect’s competition In 1983 Architectural Design Magazine launched a competition to for architects to design a doll house. Find more on Present & Correct. 2. | Continue reading
The average commuting Londoner spends up to 75 minutes a day on the Tube. Convincing one to get back on the Underground for dinner would probably seem like a terrible idea, but we’re not talking about a late night bacon butty and a bag of crisps to chomp on the last train home. N … | Continue reading
MacDonough Street looks much the same as any street in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood; long and leafy and residential, with historic townhouses neatly arranged in rows, punctuated by the occasional larger building. But one of those larger buildings – 87 MacDonough Str … | Continue reading
The opportunity to design and build an entire city from scratch sounds like the dream of every child (and child at heart) in possession of a Lego set and an imagination, and this is exactly what NEOM, the team behind The Line, a new sci-fi city currently underway in Saudi Arabia … | Continue reading
1. The historical facade of an 1890s building in Cincinnati was revealed during renovations Found on Viewing Mag. 2. The Crown’s end of an era auction of sets, costumes and props at Bonham’s Experience the exceptional craftmanship and creativity behind The Crown with a special ex … | Continue reading
‘’Those freaks was right when they said you was dead” spat John Lennon in the 1971 song ‘How Do You Sleep?’ It was a venomous retort to his ex-bandmate Paul McCartney in an ongoing feud after the break-up of The Beatles. But what he meant by these caustic lines is a little more o … | Continue reading
To us comfy dressers of today the idea of an itchy, restrictive gadget – fashionable or not – impeding our head movement isn’t the most appealing of accessories. But the ruff, a cumbersome featherlike collar worn around the neck, like so many other awkward fashion fads throughout … | Continue reading
David Hockney in Paris, 1972 That sweater! Portrait by Jean Léger? Found on Pinterest. Old Bohemia vs faux new Bohemia – The Bystander, 1913. | Continue reading
In 1962, a reporter with the New York Post got a tip that screen goddess of the 1940s, Veronica Lake, was working as a barmaid in the lobby of the Martha Washington Hotel, a low rent boarding house in Midtown Manhattan. Using the name Connie de Toth, she said she enjoyed her job … | Continue reading
It can’t be often that you come across a charming little business lost in the archives and think – wow, that’s a really innovative idea! Time travel with us back to a 1960s London when a young couple decided to sell flowers from the back of a taxi… This got me thinking about the … | Continue reading
1. Haute Couture from the village of Goor in the Caucasus Mountains Found on Tumblr. 2. This perfect Belle Epoque Mansion in the Loire Valley for Sale Found via The Spaces, asking 1. | Continue reading
In 1966, David Bowie had a chance encounter with Vince Taylor an early exponent of the British Rock and roll scene. Taylor had been a leather-clad, chain-wielding rocker from the 1950s, a combination of Elvis, Eddie Cochran, and Gene Vincent. What now stood before Bowie in London … | Continue reading
What put Southern Indiana on our radar? Mysterious utopian experiments and end-of-the-world 19th century religious cults of course! The beautiful historic town called New Harmony was once home to a esoteric doomsday group of German pioneers called the Harmonists, who had a taste … | Continue reading
Gatsby’s mansion has nothing on Chateau Laurens. Perched majestically on a river bend on the outskirts of Agde, a former Ancient Greek colony in the south of France, this exceptional place lost in time has spawned countless stories and speculation about what went on behind its my … | Continue reading
I remember every detail, as if it was yesterday. Without fail, we would put on the VHS tape on Christmas day after opening presents. I also remember at the time having no idea who David Bowie actually was, just that he was the man that introduced the Snowman in his attic. Here is … | Continue reading
From D.I.Y. TO “I. | Continue reading
Clubs – organized groups of individuals sharing common interests or goals – have existed for centuries. The concept can be traced back to ancient times when people gathered for mutual support, sharing knowledge, and communal activities. They reflect our innate human desire for a … | Continue reading
We all know Toulouse-Lautrec, but how about Georges Bottini? You won’t find a single plaque or street name commemorating his memory, but if there were any artist eponymous with life in bohemian Montmartre, it’s him. He was a true creature of the Montmartre underworld, an artist w … | Continue reading
1. New National Museum of… (fill in the blank) invites contemplation on the role and pervasiveness of US museums The Pittsburgh-based artist Jon Rubin’s latest public project, The National Museum, considers the pervasiveness of museums across the country, the narratives they pres … | Continue reading
Hit pause on reality for a moment and step into the fabulous shoes of a bohemian design diva whose life reads much like a fairy tale. With looks straight from the glossy pages of Vogue Italia; classy, sassy, smart, uber-talented and spiritually-minded. Gabriella Crespi is one of … | Continue reading
Before the devil wore Prada, there was a Civil War veteran, a so-called “pasha of the Gilded Age,” who was one of the most vilified characters in magazine publishing. Arising out of nowhere like our beloved Gatsby, William d’Alton Mann became the kind of person all society people … | Continue reading
Imagine popping out for groceries and running into The Doors frontman Jim Morrison or Canadian rocker Neil Young, maybe scoring an invite to Joni Mitchell’s house for dinner or a BBQ at Jimi Hendrix’s. If you’d lived in a small community in the Hollywood Hills in the 1960’s, the … | Continue reading
1. A record of 1960s Lebanese life, long hidden from view At the height of his popularity in the 60s and 70s, Studio Shehrazade, run by local man Hashem El Madani, would have up to 100 customers a day passing through in the upmarket Shehrazade building, in the port city of Saida. … | Continue reading
“Remember, the big stores don’t do ‘a little Jig’ when they make a sale. Make someone ‘jig’ this year.” I’ve always put a lot of thought into finding unique gifts at the holidays and if you’re a long-time reader, chances are we probably share similar tastes. So without further ad … | Continue reading
The best way to make fast friends with a taxi driver in the Middle East? Ask them a simple question: “Fairuz or Umm Kulthum?” Sensational diva, singer, songwriter and actress, affectionately called ‘Egypt’s fourth pyramid’ and ‘mother of the Arabs’, Rolling Stones magazine ranked … | Continue reading
It’s been over a decade since we first blogged (yes, back when we called it blogging) about the European clone towns of China, including the city on the outskirts of Shanghai built around a fake Eiffel Tower with a replica Champs Elysées and rows of Haussmann-inspired Parisian to … | Continue reading
1. How to do a Picnic in the Mountains Found via the Hobnob Journal / Hobnob Mountain Club. 2. These surreal clocks by Mexican designer Pedro Friedeberg (circa 1980s) Found here. | Continue reading
Agnès Varda throughout her career was seen as belonging to the older generation. A pioneering photographer, writer, filmmaker and artist, at the beginning of her career and at barely 30 years old, she became known as the “grandmother of the New Wave.” But Varda was the cool kind … | Continue reading
To be a Bouzingo was to be a part of a counter-culture group that wouldn’t go down in history, but would give birth to bohemianism as we know it. A mere footnote of the Belle Epoque, and yet this group of young and wild creatives of late 19th century Paris defined and changed the … | Continue reading
Before rock and roll would sweep through the landscape and the consciousness of the youth, a forgotten musical genre held a nation in its grip. A rhythmic, urgent music of expression and movement that was simple and accessible due to the addition of improvised homemade instrument … | Continue reading