This 1950s French Lingerie Show will Make You Blush

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDs5xYsk3Qk&has_verified=1 We fell into yet another rabbit hole today when we stumbled upon a scene from the 1954 film, Ah! Les Belles Bacchantes. It was marketed as the very first French burlesque film starring “the 100 most beautiful French women,” and one of the greatest French slapstick comedians of all time. Above all it oozed sex appeal,…

PARIS: 10 Places to have un Café

By ‘un café’. I obviously mean a mocha latte or a glass of rosé, along with a little tarte, maybe some madeleines and of course, plenty of undisturbed lounging time à la Parisien. (You won’t actually find me talking much about coffee in this blog). 1. Un café with Fashion at Carmen Ragosta Rue de la…

Abandoned Paris: Surviving through Art

This weekend I spent Friday night with le boyfriend doing what any normal girl likes to do: scoping out derelict buildings. We were having a drink on the Seine in the 13th arrondissement when he remembered there was an enormous old building in the neighborhood infamously occupied by squatters. Off we went. And there it…

The Beverly Hills of Paris

I remember when I first saw it, Avenue Junot, the cobblestone road that winds up to Montmartre lined with some of the most delicious architecture in Paris. It’s art deco ironwork, those tall glass windows bathed in light for artists in residence, colorful cul de sacs peeking out from behind corners; here is the Paris…

My Parisian Fast Food

During the week, I like a fast lunch, especially when I’m right smack in the middle of writing an article and my tummy starts to rumble. But when in Paris, with all these luscious food markets around, it’s a little bit of a crime to settle for a sandwich in a packet. So today I thought…

My Paris Valentine Bistrot

A true Parisian would probably never admit they’re celebrating Valentine’s Day (pfff, it’s for zee capitalists). But if they are, they’ll most likely do it somewhere very discreet and as authentic as it gets… Nestled in a quiet backstreet of the 4th arrondissement, Le Temps de Cerises is one of the few enduring little gems of “la vie quotidienne” from…

French Retro Futurism as told by 1950s Chocolate Wrappers

My favourite cartoon as a kid was The Jetsons, hands down. I loved how everything was in a glass dome and you could take a shuttle to a resort at “Las Venus” at the drop of a hat. You can often find me rummaging through Flickr’s online archives of vintage stuff, which is how I came across this series of retros-futurist…

Haunting Postcards of Parisian Homicide

Note: Some of the images below contain disturbing content. Alphonse Bertillon was bad at a lot of things, but excellent at two: solving crime, and pissing people off. Both were honed during his long career at the Prefecture de Police in mid-19th century Paris, one of the grisliest eras for tracking down criminals in the rapidly growing metropolis.…

The Secret Rooftop Farms you can Visit above Parisian Department Stores

In the early hours of the morning at Galeries Lafayette in Paris, the elevator doors open on the ground floor and out march a team of country bumpkins lugging crates of plump tomatoes, strawberries, fresh herbs and edible floIMG_0438wers, through the perfumery section, past the gleaming cosmetic counters and out the front entrance. They’re met…

So Matisse, Chagall, and the Headless Horseman Walk into a Church…

Tucked along New York’s Hudson River is the town of Sleepy Hollow, where old carriage roads can still be walked, and the woodlands feel just a bit darker than they should. It’s also home to the Union Church of Pocantico Hills, a gothic style church built in 1921 by the Rockefellers. Oh, and it happens to…