Behind the Photograph: A Tale of Two Hollywood Lovers

The Photograph Rudolph Valentino & Natacha Rambova photographed outside the Plaza Athénée Hotel in Paris during their 1923 European honeymoon tour – Natacha is wearing a most fashionable automobile outfit by renowned Parisian couturier Paul Poiret. The Story Many considered the Hollywood couple to be “lavender lovers,” a name given to a male-female pair who marry for…

Behind the Façade of Potemkin Villages

Who wouldn’t want a library or a museum named in their honour? A namesake to remember us by long after we’re gone. But we can’t all be so lucky with our legacies. Case in point: 18th century Russian military leader and lover of Empress Catherine the Great, Gregory Potemkin, whose name would come to define…

America’s “Best Dressed Woman”, the Original Flapper who got the World Dancing Again

You might not know her name, but a century ago, Irene Castle was the household name at the dawn of the Roaring Twenties. Historians consider her to be the first original flapper but in her lifetime, Irene wore many hats: dancer, model, actress, animal activist, and fashion trendsetter. She left an enormous influence on American…

The Not-So-Straightforward Story of Women and Trousers

Not-so-fun fact: Until January 31st of 2013, it was illegal for women in France to wear trousers. It made headlines at the time when a 200 year-old law requiring women to ask police for special permission to “dress as men” or else risk being taken into custody, was finally revoked. The law had been kept in place…

What We Can Learn from a Bollywood Blockbuster about Periods

“The curse. Bloody Mary. Time of the Month. Shark Week. Code Red. Aunt Flo.” All over the world, euphemisms exist to discretely convey those four simple words: “I have my period”. In the media, the word ‘period’ was not mentioned on television until the 1980s and it seems the western approach for combatting period stigma is…

The Great African American Escape to Soviet Russia

In pursuit of the African American story abroad, we often look to 1920s Paris, where jazz was first introduced to the French and Black culture was embraced with open arms. It’s a more familiar story than the one about Soviet Russia opening its doors to thousands of Black Americans in the 20th century, where they…

Behind the Photograph: A Tale of Two Hollywood Lovers

Behind the Façade of Potemkin Villages

America’s “Best Dressed Woman”, the Original Flapper who got the World Dancing Again

The Not-So-Straightforward Story of Women and Trousers

What We Can Learn from a Bollywood Blockbuster about Periods

The Great African American Escape to Soviet Russia

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