15 49.0138 8.38624 both 0 bullet 0 4000 1 0 horizontal https://www.messynessychic.com 300 4000

Category / Fashion for Dummies

The Mad Hatter Is Real and He lives in Venice Beach

Once upon a time in America, hidden behind the beach where they attempted to rebuild the canals of Venice, you’ll find him… Look for the twinkling lights, the dream catchers and the crooked sign with a fedora and there, through an open door of the mystic den all in black, the mad hatter awaits. His…

America’s Vampire Sweetheart: Valeska Suratt

Forget the flappers. It’s time to talk about the “vampires” of yesteryear and their fiery queen of the screen and stage, Valeska Suratt. The Vamps or “vampires” were the female actors that paved the way for the flapper in the 1910s-20s and, in many ways, they were an extension of something exciting brewing in America.…

They Put What, Where? Weird Beauty Hacks of Yesteryear

According to fashion legend Diana Vreeland, “the only real elegance is in the mind; if you’ve got that, the rest really comes from it,” and we tend to agree. Of course, aesthetic cultural standards have fluctuated from generation to generation (and icon to icon) for the better, and for the worse. Sometimes beauty, fashion, and…

Don’t Call Her the Dragon Lady: Hollywood’s First Chinese American Star

Wong Liu Tsong was born on Los Angeles’ Flower Street in 1905 – a rather befitting location for a gal whose Cantonese name meant “frosted yellow willow.” Most U.S. moviegoers, however, would get to know her under a more American moniker: Anna May Wong, the “Dragon Lady” of Hollywood. Wong was just your average California girl…

Unexpected Beauty Hiding Inside America’s Last Fabric Factories

Waterfalls of technicolor thread, giant Singer sewing machines, endless patterns and the occasional intervention of man; you can almost hear the humming of spinning frames in Christopher Payne’s photographs. For his series called Textiles, the architect and photographer documented twenty-five of the last textile mills in New England, some a century and one dating back to the Civil War. Despite our…

The 1960s Pucci Air Hostess Uniforms, Ideal for Mile High “Stripping”

I was doing my daily browse through Pinterest and came across this eye-popping photograph of two ladies wrapped around the staircase of an airplane cabin, unmistakably decked out in head to toe Pucci prints. By now we’re probably all aware that mid-century air travel was the bee’s knees, but surely, no airline ever actually dressed their…

The Male Beauty Contest of the Sahara Desert

The beauty standards and criteria aren’t all that different from your typical beauty pageant, except in the nomadic Wodaabe tribe of Niger, it’s the girls who get to judge the boys. That old cliché that only women are high maintenance? Well, meet the tribesmen who spend an incredible amount of time, energy, and money to get…

Now You can Eat Gucci Too

Every now and again, I like to look in on the happenings of the fashion industry– especially when it comes to Gucci. It’s one of the few major luxury fashion brands today that wants to tell a good story through design (they’ve even let me write some content for them in the past). But today it’s…

Dudes Fashion Week: 12 Rules of Pitti Uomo

It’s men’s fashion week again and over in Florence, the Pitti Uomo parade of dapperly dressed dudes is out in full force. Worlds away from your typical street style photography of other fashion weeks, the men of Pitti Uomo have their own rules… Don’t bother coming unless your fabrics look like they were woven by…

The Original “Pink Ladies” Car, Complete with Lipstick Holder and Pink Umbrella

Well call me Penelope Pitstop! Okay don’t, but I bet you would if I picked you up in the sassiest car that ever was, the 1956 Dodge LaFemme. Between 1955 and 1956, Dodge produced the first car specifically marketed to women, which came in pink exterior, naturally, complete with a pink umbrella, a pink handbag and lipstick holder, among…

NEWER POSTS 1 … 19 20 21 … 29 OLDER POSTS