Messy Nessy ChicMessy Nessy Chic
1,733 FOLLOWERS
Blogging on the Off-Beat the Unique and the Chic. Nessy was raised a London girl (there I go talking in third-person), but one day I packed up my things and decided it was time to return to the land of my ancestors and cheese, and move to gay ol' Paris. I fell in love and never looked back.
Messy Nessy ChicMessy Nessy Chic
3d ago
Rose Valland © Archives des Musées nationaux
At first glance she looks like just another bookish art historian in matronly 1940s garb – a most unlikely superhero. But Rose Antonia Maria Valland was a lone female spy who, during WW2, tirelessly and valiantly put her life on the line for the love of art, saving scores of looted works of art during Nazi occupation. In 1940, the museums of Paris with their invaluable art collections together with that of private collectors, fell prey to German wartime greed, with systematic raids orchestrated by Hitler’s art-looting arm. At the time, Rose Va ..read more
Messy Nessy ChicMessy Nessy Chic
3d ago
1. Paris Waiters Race as Storied Contest Returns
On Sunday, for the first time in over a decade, Paris revived a tradition: an annual race of cafe and restaurant waiters. About 200 men and women swerved, jostled and jogged 1 ..read more
Messy Nessy ChicMessy Nessy Chic
1w ago
Colette and Mathilde de Morny1. Keep everyone guessing with numerous aliases and identities
Mathilde de Morny presumed many nicknames. Friends called her “Missy”, but in her artistic endeavours, she also went by the pseudonym “Yssim” (an anagram of Missy). When dressed in men’s clothing, she preferred “Max”, or sometimes “Uncle Max” or “Monsieur le Marquis ..read more
Messy Nessy ChicMessy Nessy Chic
2w ago
Lunchbox Museum © Reeves
Before there were fast-casual restaurants, before there was intermittent fasting, before there were meal-replacement shakes, before it all–there was lunch. And before there were Stanley cups, and before there were insulated coolers, and before there was Tupperware–there were boxes ..read more
Messy Nessy ChicMessy Nessy Chic
2w ago
Third officer Ina Mae McFadden of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corp, one of the first tenants to move into the Lucy D. Slowe Residence Hall (the first government-built women’s hotel segregated for Black war workers).
Picture this: you, an ambitious, career-driven woman wanting to conquer the Big Apple but struggling to find a place to stay ..read more
Messy Nessy ChicMessy Nessy Chic
2w ago
1. Mystery image of the day
Having real trouble finding any information at all about this photograph that’s been uploaded onto the internet. Any leads would be appreciated!
Found via ..read more
Messy Nessy ChicMessy Nessy Chic
2w ago
According to popular legend, there was once a female Pope – Pope Joan, who reigned for two years between 855 and 857 before coming to a very sticky end. If you’ve never heard of her, it’s hardly surprising as her existence has been questioned for centuries and her name wiped from official history. It seems however, that Pope Joan couldn’t be so easily buried and her legacy is still as ripe for the imagination as it was a millennia ago, inspiring novelists, historians and movie-makers. So is this story of a woman, clever and talented enough to infiltrate, deceive and rise to the top of the exc ..read more
Messy Nessy ChicMessy Nessy Chic
2w ago
Cast your eye over the creations of Jacques Griffe, and one can’t help but wonder why a designer so acutely gifted doesn’t also boast a couture legacy similar to that of many of his contemporaries. Griffe closed his business in the late 1960s despite earning his reputation as one of the great French couturiers of the mid-20th Century. We find shockingly little written about the life of this fashion genius, however. The more we look for words, stories and anecdotes, the more our thirsty web searches are greeted by tiny snippets of hearsay and a few sparse details about the legend that was Fren ..read more