13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. DCXXXVI)

1. A 1920s Long Island Mansion complete with Underground Art Deco Playground It’s all in the details. This mansion when it was built close to 100 years ago was completely state-of-the-art with an underground Art Deco playground, walk in safes, central vacuum system, air-conditioning, a speakeasy, a sub basement with bomb shelter and an indoor…

A Brief Compendium of Tramp Art

What shall we keep a keen eye out for at our next expedition to the flea market? Tramp Art! No I haven’t just insulted you, I’m talking about the little-known and often misunderstood branch of outsider art; curiously whittled wood works intricately carved from discarded cigar boxes – that’s right, cigar boxes. This humble and…

The Mysterious Viscountess who Photographed the Unseen Sensuality of Victorians

She is one of the most prolific photographers of the Victorian era, but much of her life remains a mystery. Clementina Maude, also known as Lady Clementina Hawarden, took up photography in 1857 and in seven years shot more than 800 images, mostly sun-drenched portraits of her daughters, from her home in South Kensington, London,…

The Ruin and Revival of the City that Built America

Some American companies are such a part of our everyday lives, they’re taken for granted, the likes of Apple, Microsoft and Google for example. But there is another company that although it can be seen everywhere, no-one notices. Even more mysteriously, the company no longer exists. But walk through any American city, or picture its greatest…

Is this History’s Most Underrated Dress?

A couturier-friend of mine once wryly remarked (as she meticulously contemplated the exact landing spot of another rose-gold sequin destined for the bust of a ballgown) that her life effectively was a fashionable road-map signposted by all the memorable gowns she’s made for brides, debutantes and society ladies over the decades. Similarly we fashionistas and…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. DCXXXV)

1. Hundreds of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Designs Were Never Built. Here’s What They Might Have Looked Like So far, David Romero has digitally reconstructed over 20 of the famous architect’s unrealized projects. Full article found on The Smithsonian. 2. A countryside village frozen-in-time surrounded by massive tower blocks buildings in Berlin It includes a functioning…

The Twisted Tale of the Real Mickey Mouse

Once upon a time, in 1927, Walt Disney created Oswald the Lucky Rabbit for Universal. This bunny had a round white face, a button nose, and floppy black ears. After Disney sold a series of shorts to Universal, he returned in 1928 to offer his services to create more cartoons featuring Oswald. However, he not…

No, the Other Naomi: An American Supermodel’s Overlooked Legacy

There is much debate on who was the first Black supermodel. Several Black models have accumulated a series of firsts between them throughout history; Helen Williams became one of the most familiar faces in Black advertising in the 1950s, Donyale Luna was the first African-American model to appear on the cover of the British edition of Vogue in 1966,…

A Brief Compendium of Preserved Pieces of Cake

Ever since humanity invented cake, we’ve been trying to have it and eat it, too. And while we haven’t yet figured out how to do both, we have been saving slices of this most celebratory of desserts for several millenia now. The Egyptians gave us the world’s oldest known cake–and also the world’s oldest Tupperware…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. DCXXXIV)

1. An occult artist whose mysterious work was discovered in a remote cabin after his death These mysterious drawings were discovered in a cabin in Carmel, California after the artist’s death. After World War I, Grant Wallace (1868–1954) built a small cabin in the forest near Carmel, California, which he used as a laboratory for…