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Cabinet of Chic Curiosities
Category / Movie / Music / Book Junkie

The Forgotten Cafés where the British Beats Used To Meet

We 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 Kardomah Gang are Wales’ and the world’s forgotten intellectual boyband, who…

Here’s Prince, Holding Court in his First Filmed Interview

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 Fargnoli (who later sued the singer…

Legendary Paris Nightclub of the 80s Reopens as a Cultural Shrine to David Bowie

On a steamy summer night in 1981, it wasn’t unusual to find David Bowie surrounded by Paris’ premiere debs and drag queens, tossing around a blow-up ball in an underground discotheque pool, or Grace Jones singing “La Vie en Rose” on a Harley Davidson at clubs like Le Palace – the French capital’s answer to Studio…

The Lost Romance of Dance Cards

If you’ve been watching Netflix’s sauciest new period drama, Bridgerton, your curiosity might have been aroused (among other things) by the notable nod to a forgotten footnote of historical dating etiquette – dance cards! In between the sexually-charged scenes of one of Netflix’s most binge-watched shows of late, the bygone ballroom accessory made numerous appearances…

A Virtual Dinner Date at the Parisian Restaurant That Inspired “Ratatouille”

Opening a restaurant is like playing service industry roulette. Yet, somehow, Paris’ La Tour d’Argent — quite literally, “The Silver Tower” — says it’s survived 436 years of history on the Left Bank, with a backside view of Notre Dame, as the unmatched king of posh Parisian cuisine. Whether it’s really that old is almost irrelevant; it’s become a…

Meet the Girl from Ohio who Became a Star in 1960s Paris

America’s loss is France’s gain. I’ve had Nancy Holloway playing on repeat this week. Nancy who? Oh, only one of the biggest names in mid-century French pop culture; an idol of the Yé-yé music craze. She’s remembered in France as “la Perle Noir”, the ‘black pearl’ of the sixties with a distinctly American accent that…

Can’t Sleep? Here’s 20 Free Documentaries to Soothe the Mind

Ah, the good old fashioned documentary. They teach us about our planet’s wildlife, architecture, culture, people, and ideas. They also put us to sleep. And that’s not a bad thing on a day like this! Is there a better way to drift off to dreamland, than with the gentle cradling of Orson Welles’ voice, or…

The Strange Anatomy of ABBA’s Infamous (Tax Deductible) Wardrobe

What do house cats, Euro pop, and the ingenious tax savvy have in common? Owe Sandström, that’s who. As the flamenco-dancing-zoologist-designer behind the costumes of ABBA, Sandström certainly played his part in helping the Swedish supergroup reach fame in the 1970s – where they have remained ever since. In fact, a deeper dive into the…

Movie Nights are the New Cocktail Parties: Here’s 50 Films to Gather Around

Even if lockdown and social distancing rules have been loosened where you live, you may still feel that there’s just something not quite right about throwing a house party in the times of Covid. This is probably not a good time to invite judgement from your neighbours, nor potentially invite suspect germs into your home…
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