15 49.0138 8.38624 both 0 bullet 0 4000 1 0 horizontal https://www.messynessychic.com 300 4000
Cabinet of Chic Curiosities
Category / How to start a subculture

Stitching the History of West African Flags

To understand recent Ghanaian history, flags are not a bad place to start. Ghana was under colonial rule by Britain until 1957, but the Portuguese first arrived on the Gold Coast in the 15th century, starting a centuries-long trade industry in goods, arms and slaves. Fabric was a common manufactured material that Europeans brought to…

Inside the Annual Ernest Hemingway Look-Alike Competition

If you’d gone for a walk around Key West in the 1930s, chances are you might have bumped into Ernest Hemingway. Whether making the short stroll from his house on Whitehead Street to the bars on Duval, one block over and several up, or perhaps on his way to the nearby marina where he moored…

This Guy (Almost) Convinces us to Go Freight Train Hopping Around America

Freighthopping or trainhopping, the (usually illegal) act surreptitiously boarding and riding a freight railroad car became a common means of transportation following the American Civil War and continued to be widely used by those unable to afford other transportation, particularly during the Great Depression when the jobless took to the rails to find work. The practice is less common today, but a…

Manhattan’s Long Lost Era of Loft Jazz

Once upon a time, before Manhattan priced out its young talent, you had to be an artist to live in SoHo. And in the late 1960s and 70s, a cultural phenomenon known as “Loft Jazz” came into existence in downtown Manhattan’s abandoned industrial spaces. Eclectic, edgy and often Black musicians turned Soho’s neglected lofts into…

Were an Ancient Christian Sect of Nudists the World’s First Hippies?

Today we’re taking a brief look at some hippie heretics of yore known as the Adamites. The 2nd century Christian sect, claimed that its members were re-established in Adam and Eve’s state of original innocence, called their church “Paradise”, practised “holy nudism”, rejected marriage and pretty much claimed they could do whatever the heck they…

When Big Brands were Getting High in the Seventies

In the late 1960s and 70s, America’s big corporations could see the psychedelic writing on the wall and they knew they had to do something. A wave of psychedelia was taking over pop culture and the LSD-infused hippie aesthetic was huge. The influence of drug culture on some of the most iconic brands saw everyone…

Berlin’s Curious 1920s Polar Bear Craze

Once upon a meme, Germany had its own precursor to the internet’s LOLcat – in the form of a life-sized fake polar bear. As the story goes, some time in the early 1920s, two (actual) polar bears arrived at the Berlin Zoo and became the talk of the town. Families came from all over the…

The Complicated Rise and Fall of Udoli, an Unsung Subculture of Black Fashion History

Black women have been at the forefront of many cultural trends throughout the centuries, from hoop earrings worn by ancient Nubian civilisations and 80s disco divas alike, to streetwear trends pioneered by R&B and Hip Hop artists of the 90s. There is one unsung fashion subculture however, which never quite took off with mainstream consumers…

The Curious Youtubers Building Fantasy Pools and Secret Temples By Hand

Youtube can be a weird and wonderful place. Let’s see, there’s the Oposom lady (the undisputed queen of Youtube in our opinion), the folk singing Kardashians of Eastern Europe and a guy who takes us around dead malls and motels on our lunch break – although perhaps you’d be more into watching Italian grandmothers making…

Meet the London Club Kids Who Made Punk Go Pop

Sex, drugs and lots of black eyeliner. Just a regular Tuesday night at the Blitz Club. At the turn of the 1980s, London’s teenage squatters, outcast art school kids and disillusioned punks all descended on a barren Covent Garden in search of a good night out. By simply living out their wildest and wackiest fantasies,…
1 2 3 … 45
Paris Restaurant Guide
Unlock the Vault
Weekend & City Guides
Unlock the Vault
ABOUT NESSY
Mum & Dad named me Vanessa, but you can call me Nessy.

INSTAGRAM

messynessychic

Messy Nessy Chic