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…

Fabergé’s Secret Garden

When we hear the name Fabergé, we instantly think of those exquisite Imperial eggs; the mystery and intrigue surrounding their loss and rediscovery following the Russian revolution. But in truth, the goldsmith’s real and most potent love affair of the 20th century was one with flowers. The value of Fabergé flowers is enhanced by the…

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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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The Strange Tale of the Identical Twins’ Mirrored Mansion

Just outside a small, rural Wisconsin farm town, lay the ruins of a grand mansion. In stark contrast to the flat, surrounding fields and scattered barns, was the peculiar sight of a once opulent home that wouldn’t have looked out of place on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue during the Gilded Age. For years, mystery surrounded the…

Who Will Rescue this New York Manor Worthy of a Tim Burton Movie?

This incredible historic home has been sitting on the market for a little longer than we’re comfortable with. Fairview Manor is the sort of place that’s pretty much straight out of Tim Burton’s imagination, so it’ll take a special sort of owner to take it on. But of course, pairing quirky houses with even quirkier…

A Forgotten Humanist Photographer of Paris

When you think of the photographers that captured the humans of Paris, masters of the lens like Henri Cartier-Bresson, Brassaï and Robert Doisneau come to mind. Their iconic black and white photographs are often as familiar as the monuments of Paris themselves. Today, we’re turning our attention to another French photographer whose images haven’t been licensed on tourist…

She’s the 19th Century Mystic Painter that Art History Needs to be Rewritten For

Buried by the elitist art establishment, hers must be the art world’s best kept secret this century. This is the story of a possessed, prodigious painter who prolifically created art that looks so modern it looks more at home in the 21st century; the story of a spiritually-minded artist trying to grasp the wonders of…

Parisian Woman with Baguette: A Short Story Challenge

It’s amazing to see how our minds can wander in different ways; how imaginations can wander from a single picture. We recently proposed a new challenge for our readers to become the storyteller, prompted by a historical found photograph with very little information about its author, or the subject in the frame. An unknown woman is…

Harvard’s Secret Court: A Cloak and Dagger History of the Ivy League’s Anti-Gay Purges

Secret college societies have lurked in the shadows of the Ivy League since the 19th century, and the rumours and whispers about what happens behind closed doors only adds to the mystery and allure, but there was one secret faction in particular which managed to keep itself hidden behind Harvard’s prestigious reputation. For over 80…

All the Sneaky Tricks of Prohibition Bootleggers

I found this photograph floating around on the internet today of a truck ingeniously camouflaged by bootleggers during the Prohibition, being inspected by authorities in Los Angeles, California. You can tell even those inspectors are impressed by the level of artful deviousness. It got me curious to see what other tricks these bootleggers tried. The crazier the caper,…