Every Thursday, Spitalfields antique market in London spans a historic covered marketplace that transforms itself into a maze of stalls bearing jewellery, clothing, housewares, and more. At the...
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...
Did you know that a glass sponge could live as long as 15,000 years? They could probably live up to 40,000 years if changing sea levels weren’t a factor, and are thought by many to have the l...
If it took you this long to identify one of the most epic genres of art history, welcome to the club. We must have skipped class that day. The aesthetic: a lost civilization – its crumbling a...
On the serene waters of Lake Maggiore in northern Italy, nestled among the Borromean Islands, lies Isola Bella, a place where history, art, and nature converge. While the island is renowned for...
https://www.messynessychic.com/2024/08/26/lake-maggiores-treasure-island-of-marionettes/
Pass the vinaigrette! No, not the salad dressing – we’re talking about the vinaigre de toilette. You’re forgiven for the confusion, being born in the wrong century and all. Let’s rewind...
https://www.messynessychic.com/2023/06/27/forgotten-object-du-jour-the-vinaigrette/
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/
Kurt Thometz’s bookshop was not the norm. Harlem’s white-owned all-Black bookstore almost seemed like a glimpse into an alternate universe where blackness dictates the principle narrative o...
It all started with this those three girls on a rock in 1922, putting my beach snaps to shame. Why is it, that with all the technology we have at our disposal to document every moment of our ho...
How do you dress for a dance with death? If you were a 14th century Samurai, the pressure was on to go into battle with a kabuto (helmet) that subscribed to a fiercely maximalist vision. These...
https://www.messynessychic.com/2019/06/21/the-accidentally-couture-life-of-a-samurai/
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/
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/
If you’d rather camp outside than stay in a soulless hotel chain on holiday, join the club. But today, we’re taking our charming hotel search to another level. Bookworms and library lovers...
https://www.messynessychic.com/2018/07/05/overnight-at-the-prime-ministers-library/
Honestly, I just can’t keep up with you old Hem! In a new book, written by the great nephew of a close friend to the writer in his later years, Autumn in Venice: Ernest Hemingway and His L...
https://www.messynessychic.com/2018/06/05/meet-hemingways-last-secret-love/
I’ve caught the collector’s bug again. What is it this time? Antique astronomy tools. And I’m blaming it on the Adler Planetarium, the first in America and home to one of the world’s ...
If you’ve stepped foot in France you have probably seen her, the beautiful woman wearing the odd hat who is adorned on French euro coins, stamps, wine bottles, and many other places. This...
https://www.messynessychic.com/2017/07/14/meet-marianne-and-the-many-faces-of-the-french-republic/