Don’t Forget the Fearless Father of Unisex Clothing

From Harry Styles to Diane Keaton, household names of every generation continue to embrace and explore fashion that goes beyond the traditional gender binary. And as brands take note of an increasingly mainstream social shift, from luxury to fast fashion, the 2020s are on well course to being remembered as the decade that unisex fashion…

She Built a Candle Empire from her Ancestral Village in Mexico

The importance of ritual candles is celebrated in many cultures across the world. Their beauty is hidden in the hope and magic that persists until the last ray of beeswax-powered light, and the tradition preserves valuable ancestral storytelling and history. Zapotec candle making, in all its kaleidoscopic and ornamental mastery, is upheld by a single…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. DLXXXI)

1. Aquascaping (it’s a thing) Not your average fish tank, hey? Turns out, there’s a whole subculture of enthusiasts and hobbyists online, as well as some very serious competitive artists. This is an example of probably one of the most (If not, the most) shared aquascape called “Whisper of the Pines” created by Serkan ÇETİNKOL…

What Lies Beneath: The Curious Underworld Of Hobby Tunnelling

In 1924, a truck accidentally sank into a backlot in Washington DC, opening a sinkhole and revealing a labyrinth of tunnels. People were aghast at what had been found; there was talk of bootleggers and spies that would later make the front page of the Healdsburg Tribune, but no one had any answers. Eventually, a…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. DLXXIX)

1. Reading in Paris A themed compilation of 1950s photographs found on Live Journal. 2. Fabulous Vintage Bulgarian lottery tickets More found on Present & Correct. 3. A Peculiar Measuring instrument This circular slide rule describes the effects of a nuclear explosion on people. After World War II, scientists at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory…

Inside the Beat Hotel of Paris

“I lay there on the floor, he makes love to Nanette all night, as she whimpers,” wrote Jack Kerouac, recalling the night he slept in Room 41 of a Parisian “fleabag” in the Latin Quarter that his friend and fellow poet had christened “The Beat Hotel”. Gregory Corso, the youngest of the inner circle of Beat Generation writers,…

Fashion History’s Most Flustering Flex: The Codpiece

You only need to have a gander at the armour that Henry VIII used to wear to see how proud he was of his nether regions. Indeed, during his reign, one of the most important fashion items in a gentleman’s ensemble was a designated pouch that protruded from the crotch of men’s trousers, enclosing the genital area. This…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. DLXXVIII)

1. “Still for Sale” 104 N Main St, LaFayette, Kentucky — “Lafeyette Bank opened its doors in 1898 with original capital of $15,000. Today, this building is a high-profile business location in the center of a historic village. Extensively restored with many original features including cement and some original wood flooring, large windows, shelving, chandeliers,…

The Vault

The Scrapbooks of a Real-Life Tarzan torn between Africa and Studio 54

Andy Warhol called him a modern Tarzan. “He jumps in and out of the snake pit he keeps at his home. He cuts himself and paints with the blood. He wears sandals and no socks in the middle of Winter. He lived in a parked car on 13th Street for six months. He moved when…

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Movie Nights are the New Cocktail Parties: Here’s 50 Films to Gather Around

Even if lockdown and social distancing rules have been loosened where you live, you may still feel that there’s just something not quite right about throwing a house party in the times of Covid. This is probably not a good time to invite judgement from your neighbours, nor potentially invite suspect germs into your home…