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Cabinet of Chic Curiosities
Category / How to start a subculture

How French Fashion Emerged even More Decadently from the Guillotine

Those of us who paid any attention in history class can probably recount a few key details and players of the French Revolution – there was Marie Antoinette, her Sun King and their posse at Versailles who were eating too much cake; the revolutionaries who kicked things off by storming the Bastille prison; and an…

In Nazi-Occupied Paris, Swing Kids had their own Resistance Movement

They aren’t remembered for their political or intellectual outpourings, nor for their radical actions in the streets. The only weapons of the Zazou were dress, speech and attitude, and yet, this Parisian subculture somehow came to be a thorn in the side of Nazis and French Fascists. Throughout history, fashion has always been a reliable…

And Now, A Brief Compendium of Neo-Victorians

Neo-Victorianism – a curious and persevering movement of reproducing, or in some way, reinterpreting, Victorian ways of life. This includes, but is not limited to, wearing top hats, corsets, silky waistcoats, an appreciation for Jane Austen, Alice in Wonderland tattoos and morbid mysteries. We’re not here to wax nostalgic about the wonders of Victorian living,…

The Forgotten Superheroes of Blaxploitation Movies

Black Panther swept the box office when it came out in 2018 and quickly became one of the top grossing superhero movies of all time. While it not only boasts a predominantly Black cast, it is one of the few modern films truly centred around Black heroes. There is still a long way to go…

Legendary Nights with the Bright Young Things

The generation that came of age in the aftermath of the First World War and the Spanish Flu did a lot more than just bob their hair and drink all the time. Well, they did do those things too, but let’s take a closer look at those party animals of the roaring 20s as we…

Don’t Forget the Fearless Father of Unisex Clothing

From Harry Styles to Diane Keaton, household names of every generation continue to embrace and explore fashion that goes beyond the traditional gender binary. And as brands take note of an increasingly mainstream social shift, from luxury to fast fashion, the 2020s are on well course to being remembered as the decade that unisex fashion…

The Secret Lives of Cowboy “Buckaroo” Poets

When they weren’t riding bucking broncos, gun-slinging at the saloon, herding cattle and exploring the Wild West, it’s hard to picture that some American cowboys might also have been nurturing a talent for writing rhythmic verse. For more than a century however, cowboys have been unlikely and overlooked devotees of the literary genre that’s more…

What Lies Beneath: The Curious Underworld Of Hobby Tunnelling  

In 1924, a truck accidentally sank into a backlot in Washington DC, opening a sinkhole and revealing a labyrinth of tunnels. People were aghast at what had been found; there was talk of bootleggers and spies that would later make the front page of the Healdsburg Tribune, but no one had any answers. Eventually, a…

Human Computer: The Forgotten Women’s Profession

For hundreds of years, the term “computer” was a job title for a human before machines took over the job, and in the late 19th century, computers weren’t just human, they were mostly women. An English Countess and Victorian mathematician, Ada Lovelace, is regarded as the first computer programmer and by World War II, American…
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