Dream Catching at the Ends of the Earth in the Name of Art

Some minds are cornucopias; sources of creative ephemera. Such is the case for artists and photographers Nicholas Kahn and Richard Selesnick, a dream team bringing fairytales to life for the new millennium. They agreed to open up the Pandora’s Box of their creative process to share how the heck their fantastical worlds manifest themselves, and show why…

All Aboard the 1970s Sex Raft Experiment: the Best Reality TV Show That Never Was

Five men, six women and one 101-day, sex-starved ocean adventure. Has a catchy ring to it, no? “It was a fabulous adventure story,” said Marcus Lindeen, director of a 2018 documentary called The Raft that chronicles 1973’s “Acali Experiment,” in which an eclectic group set sail to find out if the best– or worst– of humankind rears its…

New York’s Secret Caribbean Kingdom (and its Queen)

Peer inside and your senses inevitably tumble inside a place that’s more time capsule than bar. In the warm glow of a colour we’ll just call, “Yellow, 1979”, exists a world apart from the modern and fast-paced New York City we know. You’ll hear the salsa rhythm of a lively San Juan watering hole and…

Vintage Muse du Jour: Rediscovering Chelo Alonso, Cuba’s Answer to Marilyn

She was billed as the human,”Cuban H-Bomb” by American media in the 1950s, ’cause Chelo Alonso was Cuba’s answer to Marilyn Monroe. Simply a force to be reckoned with, she exploded onto the international movie scene in the 1950s as both a dancer, instantly drawing comparisons to Josephine Baker, and as a starlet who carved…

The Time Capsule Brooklyn Barbershop that Could

The one charm about the past, said Oscar Wilde, is just that: it’s the past. But clearly, he never met Tony Garofalo. For over half a century, Tony has been behind the wheel, or swivel chair, rather, of the little Brooklyn Barber Shop that could… Quietly sandwiched between a deli and car service shop, you…

We’re Soon to be Dining in an Abandoned Metro Station in Paris

It’s finally happening. A sleeping ghost station in Paris’ revered 6eme arrondissement; just a few steps from iconic French cafés and the world’s first luxury department store; a forgotten metro stop is finally going to be transformed, slated to become the city’s hottest new underground restaurant. If this all kinda rings a bell, it’s because in 2013,…

The Vault

Greetings from Rabbi Shaul’s Sacred Taxidermy Museum, Brooklyn, NY

It’s a day like any other in Borough Park, Brooklyn. Yiddish-painted school buses go to-and-fro, and women tighten the tichels around their heads; every man is silhouetted by a pair of perfectly curled sideburns, and the local grocer has a two-for-one deal on blintzes. Tel-Aviv notwithstanding, the Big Apple is home to our planet’s largest Hasidic…

Pssst! You've stumbled across content that is exclusive to Nessy's Keyholders.

There’s a new way to access the really special stuff from Messy Nessy Chic …

Hidden beneath the surface layers of the internet, there’s a place where we keep our most secret addresses, untapped archives, creator’s inspiration, collector’s guides, explorer’s manuals, obscure research and much more… And it’s made for our keyholders only!

Apply now to unlock the Vault

Keyholder Login

Get Schooled by the World’s First Sexology Institute of 1920s Berlin

They called him “the Einstein of Sex”. The German doctor who went (quite literally) where no other had gone before in his research, founding the massive Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, or Sexology, just before the Nazis eclipsed bohemian Berlin and its costumed, sexually liberated splendour. His name was Magnus Hirschfeld (see the dude with the glasses…

Catherine Deneuve Wants to Sell You Her Parisian Wardrobe

Spring cleaning came early for French cinema icon Catherine Deneuve, who says she’s just got no more room in her closet in Normandy (relatable!), so she’s auctioning off her perfectly Parisian, Yves Saint Laurent wardrobe. Now for fashion lovers, this is the Holy Grail of hauls. But even if you don’t care about clothes, you…

The Wild Baroness of Greenwich Village Who Was the Real Artist Behind Duchamp’s Urinal

Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven had a life as rich as her name was long. She became the belle of New York’s bohemian scene in the early 1900s, donning feather crowns and bras made of tomato cans, making incredible art and befriending cutting-edge Dadaists like Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp. Then, she kind of faded into history…