Even Hitler couldn’t rob Paris of its style. In 1945, the end of the war was in sight, the French capital had already been liberated of the Nazi occupation and it was time for Paris to relau...
The original Olympic games got cancelled for 1500 years because … well … everyone was naked. The Ancient Greek Olympic Games, held from 776 BC to 393 AD, so that’s nearly 10 times longer ...
https://www.messynessychic.com/2024/07/26/the-ancient-and-very-naked-olympics/
The Années Folles in Paris — a time for jazz, literature of the Lost Generation, and a little-known fetish fashion boom. Spearheaded by a husband and wife team largely forgotten by history, ...
As the countdown for the Paris Summer Olympics has begun and the excitement for the international extravaganza of athletic prowess mounts, few will now remember a past games that had a rather m...
https://www.messynessychic.com/2024/07/05/how-to-host-the-olympic-games-on-a-shoestring-budget/
On the morning of January 30, 1889, three friends of Rudolf, the Crown Prince of Austria, broke down On the morning of January 30, 1889, three friends of Rudolf, the Crown Prince of Austria, br...
https://www.messynessychic.com/2022/06/23/the-fateful-lovers-suicide-that-put-the-world-at-war/
As the 19th century came to a close and the 20th century picked up speed, people were absolutely held in thrall by the paranormal. Psychics and mediums sprang up everywhere as part of a movemen...
https://www.messynessychic.com/2022/05/13/the-original-ghostbusters/
Years before the Paris Métro opened, there was another subterranean transport system rattling away beneath the city streets. Instead of messages floating around in the internet ether of apps a...
Next to pasta primavera, star forts have to be one of the coolest things the Italians ever made. Dreamt up in the 15th century to withstand onslaught of a little something called cannonballs, t...
https://www.messynessychic.com/2020/05/21/a-bucket-list-of-star-cities-scattered-across-our-globe/
Paris may be the City of Light, but it is filled with dark corners. Some of the best-known ghost stories were inspired by the very real, gory history of this otherwise romantic setting. Behind ...
https://www.messynessychic.com/2019/10/30/a-haunting-compendium-of-paris-ghost-stories/
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 Renaissanc...
https://www.messynessychic.com/2019/05/17/free-the-nipple-says-history/
One of my favourite things about Eadweard Muybridge, the man who gave us the moving image, aside from the vast array of exotic spellings he adopted for his birth name (Edward Muggeridge), is th...
Somewhere in a dark room almost a century ago, an image emerges of a woman with her skeleton lover. Beside it, another of a gyrating goblin, a pin-up worthy witch, or some other creature from t...
https://www.messynessychic.com/2018/10/23/uncovering-hollywoods-1920s-antichrist-photo-shoots/
The only place more frequented than the Eiffel Tower, according to 19th century Parisians, was the exalted mattress of the Valtesse de la Bigne. Her story is the quintessential rags-to-riches t...
https://www.messynessychic.com/2018/03/07/the-courtesan-all-of-paris-fell-for/
There’s a curious expression used in Provence by pétanque players. “Embrasser Fanny” or to “kiss Fanny”, is a small recompense for making a fool of oneself to put it simply. But wher...
https://www.messynessychic.com/2017/05/12/the-art-of-kissing-fanny/
Last night I was standing at the counter of our local café on Boulevard Saint Germain, finishing off a last glass of wine after work before heading home for the evening, when I noticed somet...
In Paris, every first Wednesday of the month at noon, without fail you can hear the eerie wail of an air raid siren from wherever you are in the city. They’ve been going since pre-World War I...