Meet the Woman Who Just Crashed the Chanel Runway

Well, that’s one hell of a way to end Paris Fashion Week! The Spring-Summer 2020 shows went out with quite a bang this year when a mystery woman seamlessly stormed the Chanel catwalk. At first, it looked like a pre-planned twist – the woman was decked out in tweedy garments and a Coco-worthy hat, after…

Now That’s What I Call a Wedding Look

A guide to wedding dress inspiration isn’t exactly the kind of thing you’re likely to find on Messy Nessy Chic. Then again, it’s not everyday that the founders of the MessyNessy team get hitched! As Nessy and Alex tie the knot this weekend, we’re holding down the fort at the MNC HQ and thought we’d…

How Guillotine Haircuts became all the Rage in France

During the height of the French Revolution, France had just about lost its mind. The “Reign of Terror” was as terrible as it sounds. Rising revolutionary politicians like Maximilien Robespierre, were accusing everyone and their mother of treason against the new republic and some 16,500 people were killed by guillotine in a single year. The accusers…

Free the Nipple, says History

Nipple slips must have been a real problem in the 17th century. Or rather, not so much a problem per se, as an everyday practice. If you’ve ever walked around a portrait gallery of Renaissance European art or watched a few period films set around that time when the cup did truly runneth over, you…

She Played the World’s Most Unappreciated Music, but looked Fabulous Doing it

First things first: it’s not like we hate the accordion. We like it on the occasional metro platform, and we love to hear it in a distant summer breeze by the Seine. Few things are as effective at stirring up good ‘ole Parisian nostalgia, even after all these years. It’s just, well, a lot. It…

Stalin’s Fashion House: Style Spying behind the Iron Curtain

For many, “Soviet fashion” reads like an oxymoron. One simply can’t imagine that funding fashion ateliers was high up on Joseph Stalin’s to-do list, and it wasn’t, but still — it was there, and apparently it was utterly extravagant. “Eclectic mannequins were turning slowly as they displayed rather bewildering clothes,” wrote Elsa Schiaparelli of the…

10 Fashion Labels we bet Frida Kahlo Would have Loved

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 and quirky accessories are just what summer dreams are…

The Vault

Drawing Boards for the Ballet Russes

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 byword for excitement, for colour and glamour” and a radical new approach to…

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America’s King of Macabre Would Have Made a Killer Fashion Designer

Who else writes an alphabet book where “E is for Ernest who choked on a peach?” or where “B is for Basil assaulted by bears?” Master of the macabre, Edwardian enthusiast, unlikely style icon, cat lover – there’s no box the late illustrator and author Edward Gorey doesn’t tick for us. He wasn’t trying to…

Tokyo Is Having Way More Fun Than Us at Fashion

In Tokyo, there are no rules when it comes to street fashion. Current trends have little or no influence and you certainly don’t have to work in the fashion industry to throw down some serious looks. I stumbled upon the Tokyo Fashion Tumblr today, which has been faithfully documenting Japanese street style since 2010. From Lolita…