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Cabinet of Chic Curiosities

Hollywood’s Beguiling Queen of Pre-Code Cinema

If Norma Shearer doesn’t ring a bell like other legendary names of the silver screen might, then you too, have fallen victim to the Hays Code. Before we even knew it as “Hollywood”, the American film industry was producing a surreal amount of extraordinarily liberal and racy movies dominated by strong unapologetic female characters, homosexual…

All the Clichés of Paris Tourism in one Delightful 1950s Cartoon

Feeling down about the prospect of another summer without Paris? We have something from the archives that might cheer your up. Made in 1958 by French cartoonist Albert Champeaux, “Paris Flash” is a satirical cartoon about Parisian life and tourism of the era. This would have been shown to audiences in Parisian cinemas, just before the film. It’s all…

Little Tuscany in the Heart of Paris

As if plucked from a 17th century Mediterranean estate waiting to transport Parisians to the hills of Florence; tucked away in a corner of Paris’ Luxembourg gardens is one of the city’s most underrated beauty spots. The Medici Fountain, crowned with an Italian grotto and flanked by ivy drapes, is an impossibly romantic place alluding…

Cape Town’s Vanishing Red Coke Dens

Given you’re a determined adventurer, should you find yourself in Cape Town, we figured you might be interested in stepping off the beaten track on a quest to find a slice of kitschy nostalgia. In one of the oldest suburbs of the city (and becoming the hippest), we’re looking for the illustrious red-and-white watering holes that…

A Brief Compendium of Historical Maximalism

This is a case for “more is more”, masterfully argued by the brushstrokes of history’s finest interiors artists. Before we had glossy decor magazines to pour over, we had a pictorial genre known as interior portraiture which became all the rage during the Belle Epoque, but first appeared in Europe in the 17th century to…

The Place Where World War One Planes Still Fly

Wander through the quaint, old fashioned town of Rhinebeck in New York’s Hudson Valley, and you may feel as though you’ve stepped back to another era. Especially when you look up into the sky: for its quite common to see vintage airplanes circling high above all day long, the distinctive sound of old, single propeller…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. DXLIX)

1. Queen Victoria’s Boer War chocolate found in attic A 121-year-old chocolate bar that was given to British troops to boost morale during the Boer Wars in South Africa has been discovered in the attic of a National Trust property. The chocolate, still in its original wrapper and tin, was part of a batch commissioned…

Hidden Under a Chicken Coop: The “Louvre” of Wine

One of the world’s most prestigious wine cellars isn’t where you think it might be. It isn’t nestled beneath a grand chateau or presidential palace, but buried in the backyard of an average Joe, a retiree of humble background who has been collecting the rarest wines, bottle by bottle for the past 50 years. Michel-Jack…

Desirable du Jour: Tissue Books

Every now and then, you can stumble upon something that stops you in your Instagram-scrolling tracks. For us, it just so happened to be a collection of unloved vintage books that have found novel purpose thanks to Parisian artist Inès Mélia … as one-of-a kind hanky holders. But don’t tell me a book has never…

Parisian woman with Turkish Veil on Rue de la Paix, 1914: A Short Story Challenge

It’s amazing to see how our minds can wander in different ways; how many variations of a story can come from a single picture. We recently proposed a new challenge for our readers to become the storyteller, prompted by a historical found photograph with a brief caption as the only clue: “Parisian woman with Turkish veil, seen…
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