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Category / Nostalgia

Terrifying Breast Enhancers of Yesteryear

Allow me to translate for you … BREAST FIRMING via fast, pressurised cold water affusion that showers the breast without getting wet, making the muscular fibers of the mammary glands contract, without touching the delicate tip. Easy to use, the water arrives under pressure through the metallic tube. A pleasureful and useful massage. For normal breasts. 125 Francs.…

The Met Museum is Hoarding some Seriously Good Holiday Party Dresses

Still haven’t found a fabulous frock or the dress of the year to ring in the New Year? It’s probably because the Met Museum is hoarding all of the most incredible vintage dresses in their archives. From unknown designers of the early 1900s to the house of Dior, here are some of my favourites… (You…

Lost in Time: Groovy Afghanistan

A cautionary tale of a vibrant and thriving culture lost in time, these photographs collected on a community Facebook page in Afghanistan are likely to leave you in disbelief. The country we’re so often shown today is comparable to a broken medieval society, but not so long ago, the barren landscape was dotted with stylish…

The Diva Who Grew Her Own Exotic Kingdom

“Don’t touch. And don’t eat what you touch unless you want to die” are the first words you’ll hear upon entering Lotusland, the exotic, 37-acre kingdom of plants tucked away in the quiet town of Montecito, California. Its roots run three owners and 135 years deep, but it’s the touch of its final, failed opera…

Ode to the Ladies Pant Suit of Zanzibar

When fashion has been borrowed from the past over and over again, it’s rare to find something that you haven’t seen before. I was browsing through snippets of a new exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art, and noticed that among the historic photographs captured throughout East Africa from the 1890s-1920s, there was one…

Greetings from Pioneer Camp, Soviet Russia

Did you hear the one about the Soviet school children who gifted a US Ambassador with a plaque of the United States seal as a gesture of friendship in 1945? It hung in his Moscow office for 7 years before the Americans discovered it was bugged with a listening device. True story. The school children involved in…

The Unsolved Case of the Missing Perfume Heiress

It’s the best Agatha Christie novel that never was: the story of the disappearance of Manhattan perfume heiress, Dorothy Arnold. She was a woman about town and the belle of too many Uptown balls to count, but to this day, no one could ever figure out whether Dorothy was murdered, kidnapped, or stepped through some…

The Undertaker Village of Paris: Then & Now

It was a time when divorcées were only allowed to be buried at night, when the Arch of Triomphe wore a black mourning veil, and the business of death was booming in Paris. In fact, over one thousand undertakers worked together in their own veritable mini-city at the town’s edge, from coffin makers and casket…

Unearthing a Seriously Awkward Interview with Nick Cave

In 1989, Nick Cave, arguably one of the greatest living lyricists, was passing through Paris with his band, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. The baritone singer-songwriter sat down with a French journalist for over 40 excruciatingly awkward minutes. You have Nick Cave in front of you and you start by asking four questions about…

Vintage Muse du Jour: Anna Karina

Anna Karina arrived in Paris at the age of seventeen from Denmark. She spoke no French and performed on the streets for money. One day, while sitting at the famous Café Deux Margots on the boulevard Saint-Germain, she was discovered by an advertising agent who asked her to do some photos. She would soon find…

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