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Category / Inspiration Vault

Has Paris overlooked one of its most gifted artists of the Belle Epoque?

We all know Toulouse-Lautrec, but how about Georges Bottini? You won’t find a single plaque or street name commemorating his memory, but if there were any artist eponymous with life in bohemian Montmartre, it’s him. He was a true creature of the Montmartre underworld, an artist whose colourful and expressive snapshots inspired Picasso. So scoot…

Muse du Jour: Gabriella Crespi

Hit pause on reality for a moment and step into the fabulous shoes of a bohemian design diva whose life reads much like a fairy tale. With looks straight from the glossy pages of Vogue Italia; classy, sassy, smart, uber-talented and spiritually-minded. Gabriella Crespi is one of those designers who isn’t necessarily a household name,…

A Breezy Hike through Laurel Canyon’s 1960s Music Mecca

Imagine popping out for groceries and running into The Doors frontman Jim Morrison or Canadian rocker Neil Young, maybe scoring an invite to Joni Mitchell’s house for dinner or a BBQ at Jimi Hendrix’s. If you’d lived in a small community in the Hollywood Hills in the 1960’s, the idea wasn’t so far-fetched. Throw on…

The Messy Nessy Personality-Curated Gift Guide

“Remember, the big stores don’t do ‘a little Jig’ when they make a sale. Make someone ‘jig’ this year.” I’ve always put a lot of thought into finding unique gifts at the holidays and if you’re a long-time reader, chances are we probably share similar tastes. So without further ado, let’s go gift-shopping… For the…

Virtually Unknown in the West, But She’s an Icon of the Arab World

The best way to make fast friends with a taxi driver in the Middle East? Ask them a simple question: “Fairuz or Umm Kulthum?” Sensational diva, singer, songwriter and actress, affectionately called ‘Egypt’s fourth pyramid’ and ‘mother of the Arabs’, Rolling Stones magazine ranked Umm Kulthum at number 61 of the 200 greatest singers of…

Guitars, Wash Boards, and Tea Chests: How Skiffle Became the 1950s Punk

Before rock and roll would sweep through the landscape and the consciousness of the youth, a forgotten musical genre held a nation in its grip. A rhythmic, urgent music of expression and movement that was simple and accessible due to the addition of improvised homemade instrumentation, it let anyone form a band, and many did. In…

What the Hell is a Zine anyway? A Counterculture Crash Course Guaranteed to Make You Cooler

Let’s say you’re at a party, the air is thick with smoke and some cool cat on the couch looks at you funny and asks, “hey dude, do you even know what a zine is?” Don’t panic. Lean in close, clear your throat and remember: zines are whatever you want them to be and that’s…

The Puerto Rican Playboy who Ruled Fashion in the Decades of Decadence

To be one of “Antonio’s Girls”, as they were known, meant you were going places. You had “it”. Grace Jones, Jerry Hall, Tina Chow, Pate Cleveland and Jessica Lange are names that are much better known today than Antonio Lopez, but they were all key members of his unofficial talent school whose careers he launched…

The Golden Age of the … Enema?!

Look, it wasn’t enough to have flawless skin, a great wig, and a plump derrière in 16th century France, you needed to have a spotless colon too. Luckily, there were a great abundance of people ready and willing to administer as many “clysters”, aka enemas, as your heart desired. Let us give you a little…

In the Midst of War, He Gave the World Electrifying Fairytales

When the going gets tough, the art gets going. That’s the beautiful thing about human creativity – it can sprout in any soil. Especially for the late British-French illustrator Edmund Dulac, whose flair for Art Nouveau fantasy not only gave us brilliant literary illustrations, but flights of fancy and escape during the First and Second World…

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