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Cabinet of Chic Curiosities
Category / Nostalgia

Secretly Documenting the Intimate World of 19th Century Sex Workers

No one knew that William Goldner led a double life. A model citizen and well-respected photographer in Reading, Pennsylvania at the turn of the century, he became treasurer of the State Photographers’ Association and was a valued member of numerous social organisations. It wasn’t until nearly 80 years after his death that his vast collection of…

An Abandoned Overgrown Estate is the Last of its Kind in the Heart of Paris

Wild and consumed by nature, like a scene described by Dickens in Great Expectations – an estate frozen in time, fit for the reclusive Miss Havisham herself – a “country house” in the centre of the city, surrounded by Paris’ most coveted real estate, will go up for sale this week at auction. In a…

10 Time Travelling Paris Movies to Cozy Up With

On these dark winter nights, is there anywhere else you’d rather escape to than Paris? In a time machine no less… 1. Monpti (1957) Starring an adorable young Romy Schneider, this is an often overlooked film for Parisphiles who can’t resist gorgeous streets scenes of the city in the 1950s. Many of the sights and…

The Unsolved Case of the Missing Perfume Heiress

It’s the best Agatha Christie novel that never was: the story of the disappearance of Manhattan perfume heiress, Dorothy Arnold. She was a woman about town and the belle of too many Uptown balls to count, but to this day, no one could ever figure out whether Dorothy was murdered, kidnapped, or stepped through some…

Let’s Go Gift Shopping in the ’80s

The 80s have been coming back in a big way in the past few years, especially in 2019. Stranger Things became the most-watched Netflix show, 80s blowouts made their way down the fashion week runways again, as did fanny packs, oversized blazers and scrunchies. We even found a Saved by the Bell themed Airbnb and…

Moonlight Etchings of the Forgotten Artist who Taught Edward Hopper

Martin Lewis died in obscurity in 1962; a retired art teacher who had found some success in his early career, but was largely forgotten after the Great Depression took away the demand for his craft, leaving Lewis to spend his last three decades teaching other people how to etch. History chose Edward Hopper, but Martin…

Greetings from Pioneer Camp, Soviet Russia

Did you hear the one about the Soviet school children who gifted a US Ambassador with a plaque of the United States seal as a gesture of friendship in 1945? It hung in his Moscow office for 7 years before the Americans discovered it was bugged with a listening device. True story. The school children involved in…

The Oddly Comforting Allure of London’s Vintage Tube Textiles

Fun fact. The woman who revolutionised British print design with some of the most iconic patterns for public transport was in fact a distant cousin of Karl Marx. Her name was Enid Marx, and in 1937 she was selected by the London Passenger Transport Board to design the moquette seat fabrics for the London bus and tube seats. Her…

Podcast du Jour: The Reclusive Royals that Lived in a Crumbling Jungle Palace

Some stories never leave us. They take up permanent residency in our brain, resurfacing for years to come in shades of daydreams and just-before-bed thoughts. “The Jungle Prince of Dehli” is one of those stories. Declarations of “How have we not heard about this?” and “Just when you think every story has been told…” made…
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