If He likes the Way You Think, You Can Borrow his Private Island for Free

This time next summer, how would you feel about escaping to your own private island? Having the space to think, work on a few ideas … ya know, generally soak up all the inspiration that can be soaked from living on your own goddamn island for an entire week. Such an opportunity exists, friend, and…

Ode to the Lost Blue Train, an Iconic NYC Rooftop Restaurant

Bloomingdale’s flagship store on 59th street is one of Manhattan’s most iconic destinations for glitzy shopping. It was also, until a year ago, home to one of the city’s more peculiar, yet glamorous restaurants. Semi-hidden on the roof, and hardly known to the thousands of daily visitors to the department store, was an opulent train…

Lonely Lighthouse Perfect for Surviving the Zombie Apocalype

Guard duty at this lighthouse is probably not the best job for anyone with a tendency to go sleepwalking. Precariously perched on a rock pillar in the Westman Islands around six miles from Iceland’s mainland, the Þrídrangaviti lighthouse is arguably the most isolated lighthouse in the world, and most definitely the scariest. The solitary structure, sitting…

Vacationing With Francis Coppola

“The Coppola Family Hideaways”– sounds like a quaint retreat with an Italian mama making your life pure heaven. Well, sort of, except swap your Italian Mama with a private butler and add a whole lot of Hollywood glamour. You know Francis F. Coppola as the Oscar-winning producer who produced The Godfather movies and The Great Gatsby (1974), but…

Discovering the Real African Queen

Key Largo! For lovers of all things nostalgic, the name of this small, charming island off the coast of Florida, brings to mind hard-boiled, 1940s film noir……Bogart and Bacall. Whilst on a recent trip exploring the Keys, your stateside correspondent came across something quite remarkable – and entirely suited to the golden age of Hollywood.…

The Last House of Fans, Paris

There was once a secret language used by women for centuries to communicate unspoken sentiments across the room. It was the code of duchesses and ladies-in-waiting; women who made bi-weekly trips to the opera armed with an exquisite accessory that with a simple flick of her wrist, could declare her true feelings for a gentleman sat across…

The Vault

The MessyNessyChic Airbnb Guide to Paris

This is long overdue. I don’t know how many times I’ve got an email from a reader asking for some advice on where to book an AirBnb in Paris, so I’ve finally got around to making a wishlist of my favourite stays for all budgets, group sizes and tastes. Each one is located in an area I think you…

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The Last Gentlemen’s Barbershop

The barbershop as we know it today was born on Italian soil. When the Greeks introduced the art of shaving to the Sicilians, public barber shops began popping up all over Ancient Rome and quickly became influential centres and favourite hangouts of high society for news and gossip. Fast-forward two millenniums and not much has…

Deep in Italy, One Man’s Surrealist Mini-City Sleeps

It’s a labyrinthine citadel more surreal than even the weirdest of Fellini sets. “La Scarzuola” is a modern wannabe-Utopian estate imagined by one man and built amongst the pointy trees of Italy’s Montegabbione in the 1950s. This esoteric wonderland and its elaborate surrealist structures are awaiting your visit… Echoing the dreamlike worlds of Dali and…

How Monarchs and Their Mistresses Avoided the Walk of Shame

There’s no denying that history’s juiciest stories often have roots in-between the sheets, and as general rule, whether you were ruler of the kingdom or head of the Catholic church, having multiple lovers still required a serious escape route to avoid any unnecessary embarrassment. Ever intrigued by a secret passageway or a hidden staircase, we’ve compiled…