The blue room at Château Le BreauWe think of the Impressionists and we picture landscapes, dreamy outdoor scenes, or Degas and his ballerinas. But there was no shortage of Impressionists dedicated to the survey of interiors, and perhaps the most prolific among them as it happens, … | Continue reading
"The curse. Bloody Mary. Time of the Month. Shark Week. Code Red. Aunt Flo." All over the world, euphemisms exist to discretely convey those four simple words: "I have my period". In the media, the word ‘period’ was not mentioned on television until the 1980s and it seems the wes … | Continue reading
News, updates, happenings and tit bits from the MessyNessyChic HQ!A new series in the Vault, exclusively for Keyholders. Pssst! You've stumbled across content that is exclusive to Nessy's Keyholders.There’s a new way to access the really special stuff from Messy Nessy Chic … | Continue reading
Fuggerei © Massimo SantiIf you’re reading this from your high-rise, high-priced city shoebox with each limb touching a wall, apologies in advance. In a world where subsidised housing blocks are labelled eye sores, and the architecturally attractive projects of the past are privat … | Continue reading
1. This Dreamy Paris Artist Atelier For SaleThe 38m2 space in the 11th arrondissement is asking 435,000 euros. Found here. 2. Edward Hopper in ParisUnbeknownst to many, Hopper moved to Paris in October 1906 where he found a room in a widow’s apartm | Continue reading
Langston Hughes (left) in the Soviet Union, 1932In pursuit of the African American story abroad, we often look to 1920s Paris, where jazz was first introduced to the French and Black culture was embraced with open arms. It's a more familiar story than the one about Soviet Russia … | Continue reading
The Exeter Salt. © Royal Collection TrustWe've said it before, and we'll say it again: there is no better entertainment than watching the rich out-rich each other. Especially when all the standard bling has been bought, and folks start getting really creative – like, salt-shaker- … | Continue reading
Photo courtesy of David J. Whitcomb.In a forgotten attic, sealed up for decades, the life's work of a photographer for the Suffragist movement has been found, and it all started with the changing of a lightbulb. David J. Whitcomb, 43 year-old lawyer bought a building in Geneva, N … | Continue reading
1. In southern Japan, there' a train station in the middle of nowhere, with no entrance or exit..You get off at Seiryu Miharashi Station, but you can't go anywhere and, to leave, you have to wait for the next train. This station has only one function: to remind men of the importa … | Continue reading
Pneumatic post, 1947 © AlamyYears before the Paris Métro opened, there was another subterranean transport system rattling away beneath the city streets. Instead of messages floating around in the internet ether of apps and social networks, if you wanted to send a note to someone … | Continue reading
Studio 54, photographedby Tod PapageorgeDid Covid really kill the disco? Or was it just the nail in the nightclub's coffin? Some would argue the clubbing era officially died near the end of the 00's, and that it was the age of social media that pulled the trigger. It's a nostalgi … | Continue reading
There's a reason why Google autofills questions about the authenticity of Black presence in 17th and 18th century Europe – lots of people are asking. The hit Netflix show Bridgerton is Shonda Rimes' first historical drama, but anyone who enjoys the screenwriter's work (be it Grey … | Continue reading
© Ebb TideThe Jersey Shore earned a certain kind of reputation when MTV cameras infamously descended on its coast in the naughties, but "guidos" aside, in the 1950s, it was Hollywood royalty like Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly who had claimed it as their summer vacation spot. In … | Continue reading
1. Empress Elisabeth's mourning mask and veil. C. 1880From the collection at the Imperial Carriage Museum in Vienna.Empress Elizabeth's only son Crown Prince Rudolf committed suicide with his mistress, a 17 year-old Baroness. After Rudolf's death, Elizabeth dressed only in black … | Continue reading
When women took over the New York Stock Exchange in 1944If you logged onto the internet this week, you probably heard about the GameStop saga involving a group of amateur investors that took on Wall Street by pushing the stock of a few underdog companies (like GameStop) to become … | Continue reading
It's Haute Couture Fashion week in Paris – well, sort of. Shows are being attended by video links and style is being created, communicated and consumed in a virtual world. But for a brief moment, let's pretend we're not in the middle of a pandemic and turn the clock back to the e … | Continue reading
The Southern Belle. The Moon Beam. The Serenade. We're not spitting romance novel titles, honey – we're talking lamps. Kitschy, retro lamps. Lamps with names worthy of their painstakingly groovy macramé. Novelty TV lights in the shape of an elephant. Lamps made of yesteryear's s … | Continue reading
Once described as the "Hollywood of Black South Africa", in 1951, Sophiatown, Johannesburg was one of the last surviving multiracial neighbourhoods of the Apartheid and a symbol of resistance against a racist regime. It was here where the writers of DRUM magazine found their beat … | Continue reading
Once described as the "Hollywood of Black South Africa", in 1951, Sophiatown, Johannesburg was one of the last surviving multiracial neighbourhoods of the Apartheid and a symbol of resistance against a racist regime. It was here where the writers of DRUM magazine found their beat … | Continue reading
Our passports have been gathering a lot of dust since the start of this pandemic, so maybe it’s time we took a moment to find out more about them and consider just how they came to be so important in our lives. Today, the significance on these pocket-sized booklets that allow us … | Continue reading
Amanda Gorman speaking at the inauguration in a yellow coat. Artwork: @bbbarriosBefore she'd even finished reading her poem at Joe Biden's inauguration, she'd stolen the show. Overnight, Amanda Gorman became household name, and in the hours after she delivered her poem "The Hill … | Continue reading
It's no secret the British Pathé is a treasure trove of vintage content, but here's a tip: pick a key search word, any word and let the channel Youtube channel dig up some delightful buried gems. Today's keyword? Hair.Hair Flashes (1955)https://youtu.be/lwVA4t56PLI?t=55Space Ag | Continue reading
Imagine building a house with an unlimited budget and dying before you have the chance to move in! That's what happened to Joaquim Navàs, the patron of Casa Navas, located in Reus, Catalonia, Spain, a design masterpiece which has remained in remarkable condition. https://www.yout … | Continue reading
Kardomah café, Manchester © Guttenberg LtdWe have all heard of the Beat Generation, but have you been keeping up with the Kardomahs? Across the pond from Ginsberg’s gang and a couple of decades earlier, there was a group of bohemian artists and writers who beat them to it. The Ka … | Continue reading
© Fabienne DelacroixWe're all trying to find ways to travel without the freedom to actually travel, whether its through film, literature or music, but today, I thought we'd explore this idea through art. And why not make it a reason to find some names you've perhaps never seen be … | Continue reading
Chatelaine, 1863 – 1885, probably England. Museum no. M.32:1 to 13-1969. © Victoria and Albert Museum, LondonEmpty a woman's handbag inside out and you've got the right idea about the chatelaine. Before purses were a woman's primary accessory, this curious contraption that fell i … | Continue reading
Prince rarely gave live interviews, but when he did, he had a way of mesmerising the audience. We dug up this rare clip from 1985 when the artist agreed to talk in front of cameras for the first time ever. It's a rather peculiar conversation in which his then-manager Steve Fargno … | Continue reading
Inventing the bra is a pretty big deal. For Caresse Crosby, this wasn’t her only or even most uplifting accomplishment. The bra was just the beginning. This wild woman lived an extraordinary life, in fact, multiple lives to accompany her multiple names. As well as being an invent … | Continue reading
Remember last year when we imagined we might be entering some kind of roaring 20s revival of the Jazz Age? And instead all we got was the dumpster fire that is 2020? For a small editorial business with an emphasis on travel and exploration, it was a sink or swim moment for MessyN … | Continue reading
This Christmas is surely all about finding comfort where we can, and for many, that means looking back on old times. For me, it started with the discovery of a Dolly Parton Christmas special buried in the archives of Youtube, which got me wondering. Sure, there's the infamous 'so … | Continue reading
Alex Raskin Antiques, Savannah © DanielleGraceAs 2020 comes to a close, it would appear that Georgia really is 'on our minds' as the southern state is set to determine which party will control the American Senate on January 5th of early next year. But how about we remove politics … | Continue reading
Castropignano, Italy2020 has been a dark year, but it's also been a time for re-evaluating our lives and dreaming "out of the box". Back in 2015, we caught wind of the first Italian towns to adopt the appealing concept of giving away or selling abandoned houses for the symbolic p … | Continue reading
Photo by Al Seib/Los Angeles Times via Getty ImagesIf Jack Frost exists, he's probably moonlighting as Dr. Kenneth Libbrecht. The CalTech professor is not only a skilled solar astronomist and ice crystal researcher, but a creator of "designer snowflakes" – yes, you read correctly … | Continue reading
Turns out, almost a century ago, a special group of men was spitting verses about Noah's Ark, Ezekiel's wheel, and every other juicy anecdote in the Bible. These days, we call it "Gospel rap," and hail it as a genre pioneered by a 1930s US gospel group, "The Jubalaires," who pave … | Continue reading
Selina Göldi © Les Poisson ChatsNestled in the lush green hills of Eastern France, in a village untouched by time, Selina Göldi is preparing a feast. Not in the empty halls of a château, nor the industrial kitchen of a restaurant, but from her cozy little home on the banks of the … | Continue reading
Costume designed by ErtéAn artist like Erté was unlikely to go by unnoticed in history with his profound obsession for the arts, spanning from dance to theatre and film to high fashion and beyond. The visual wizard arguably coined the Art Deco aesthetic with a signature style th … | Continue reading
Princess Diana (wearing Laura Ashley), pictured with David BowieA new wave of Diana fashion fever comes along now and again, reminding us of how iconic the late People's Princess truly was, be it in leg warmers or the perfect little black dress. This time, that reminder comes cou … | Continue reading
Princess Diana (wearing Laura Ashley), pictured with David BowieA new wave of Diana fashion fever comes along now and again, reminding us of how iconic the late People's Princess truly was, be it in leg warmers or the perfect little black dress. This time, that reminder comes cou … | Continue reading
Harold Lloyd probably isn't a name that rings many bells in the 21st century, but spoiler – he's one of the most influential film comedians of the silent era, making up the the first trio of the silver screen's laugh-makers, alongside Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. With his s … | Continue reading
Doyers Street © emilymccahthyChinatown’s story is best told through taste. “I regularly go to a tea emporium called Sun's Organic Garden Chinatown,” local Justin McKibben tells us by phone, “The owner, Natalie, is so sweet and knows so much. Just tell her what you like – or think … | Continue reading
Must love dogs in Rabbit Hash, Kentucky. That's the town with the means – nay, the genius – to elect a strapping young pup named Wilbur Beast as the new Mayor. At six-years-old, the French Bulldog may appear to be one of the youngest to serve in the office. But weirder things hav … | Continue reading
If you've ever lived in Paris or had notions of living in or travelling to Paris, a twenty year-old podcast episode from This American Life is essential listening. I'd never listened to it before, but for the program's 25th anniversary, producers dug up the episode for listeners … | Continue reading
Ithell Colquhoun"Pure psychic automatism." That was Ithell Colquhoun in a nutshell, according to fellow Surrealist André Breton. The flattery is a bit of a suprise, given that Breton – one of several founders of a movement that has made little room to uplift its women – was some … | Continue reading
© Romain VeillonGatsby'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 … | Continue reading
“Remember, the big stores don’t do ‘a little Jig’ when they make a sale. Make someone ‘jig’ this year.”This year, we're shopping small, we're shopping responsibly but we're definitely not shopping Amazon if we can help it. I've been surfing the back alleys of the internet in sear … | Continue reading
Whittier, AlaskaIf you thought life in times of Corona couldn't get any stranger, try living out 2020 in the town where the majority of the residents all live in one single building. Whittier, Alaska was founded in the mid 1950s, built as a military port and barracks for the US A … | Continue reading
The Joie de vivre Art Nouveau kitWe love to DYI like its 1899, especially when it comes to miniatures. We've explored a veritable SoCal palace fit for Thumbelina, and ogled the eye-watering miniatures of Queen Elizabeth II, but today, we're diving into the delightful world of Art … | Continue reading
The Old American Hotel © Cerro GordoIt's been 7 months since our Zoom Date with the guy who bought a ghost town and 8 months since he started living there alone as the pandemic took hold of the United States. A lot has happened in the abandoned mining town of Cerro Gordo since. W … | Continue reading