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

Category / People / Icons / Muses

Escape to Sarah Bernhardt’s Seaside Fortress

This weekend, let’s escape to the seaside paradise of Morbihan, France, to peak inside the 19th century fortress that belonged to the eccentric, inimitable Sarah Bernhardt. As an actor, she was truly one of the first global superstars, and it was her flair for blurring the lines between performance and reality that made her an…

The Mad Beach Party of 1923

In the summer of 1923, an American husband and wife could be credited with two rather surprising things. Their name is seldom remembered in the context of the glamorous 1920s, but the French Riviera became the summer destination it is today thanks to the infectious expatriate couple known as the Murphys. Gerald and Sarah convinced their circle…

Artists and their Bohemian Ateliers

This is the Parisian atelier of painter Jules Thulot, little-known today, but in this photograph we get an intimate look inside his personal space. A fabulously bohemian lair, begging to be explored inch by inch. It was the discovery of this photograph that sent me on my hunt for today’s compendium of artists in their…

Tango on the Seine, for Strangers in Paris

As long as the weather is good, tango enthusiasts (advanced and never-before-danced) gather at the mini amphitheatres along the Seine in the 5th arrondissement, to dance seductively until twilight. If you don’t want to join in, sitting with a bottle of wine on the steps, watching these dancers is still absolutely mesmerizing and incredibly atmospheric. A little old…

Botticelli’s Venus Was Real, and the Original Blonde Bombshell

The candles begin to flicker in a damp, baroque room, as cherubs emerge from a flower filled pond, hoisting a clam shell up from its depths. When it finally unhinges, the human incarnation of love itself takes form: “The birth of Venus.” It’s an iconic scene, and one that’s been told time and time again…

She Lied About Everything, except Marrying Wyatt Earp

A vagabond and speculated prostitute of the Wild West, nothing Josephine Earp ever did was seemingly adventurous enough even for herself. She thrived off the change of environments and had a certain mystique about her that followed her around like too much perfume. But that’s what drew people to her. That was Josie Earp’s style. Born in…

Lessons in Historical Male Peacocking, from Lord Gaga to the King of Afrofuturism

They’re performers. Dandies. Men with a streak of the mad poet. Writers, dancers, and professional party boys. Though these eccentrics span across generations, all share a brazen commitment to being themselves that’s made for some of the most memorable menswear moments in the 19th and 20th centuries. Long before fashion was giving the middle finger…

So a Glamazon, a Snake Charmer, and a Calypso Queen Walk into a Bar

It took more than a pretty face to make it big in burlesque – it took fearlessness and a strong dose of je ne sais quoi to make America take notice during the golden age of showgirl entertainment. Five women in particular have caught our attention more than a century later, so put up your…

Adored by Many, but Loved by Chanel: A Forgotten Parisian It Girl

Proust, turned her into a fictional princess and Ravel turned her into music. Renoir and Toulouse-Lautrec couldn’t stop painting her. Picasso was a confidante, Serge Diaghilev of the Ballets Russes, a best friend, and Coco Chanel – her “soul sister”; possibly her lover too. Belle Epoque Paris bloomed with opulence and a languid, if not…

The Most Famous Band You’ve Never Heard Of

Whether you know it or not, you have definitely heard them play. Popular music of the 1960s was dominated by young bands like The Beach Boys, The Mamas & the Papas and The Monkees – bands that didn’t play their own records. Sometimes, the only members of famous bands to appear on their own records…

NEWER POSTS 1 … 47 48 49 … 83 OLDER POSTS