Category Archive: Grande Dames

Kiki in Motion
Kiki de Montparnasse, Man Ray‘s famously saucy lady muse, plays a big role in Encyclopedia of the Exquisite. I was thinking of her today and came across this great, short compilation of archival black and white film footage of Kiki—shot…

Fashion Rules
This post will serve a dual purpose: first, it’s to let you know that I have been swallowed up by the fashion machine, and will spend the next month covering the fashion shows here. (And my updates on this site…

“The Natural History of the Flirt”
“The Natural History of the Flirt,” by Albert Smith, published in 1848. This is just the kind of book that I would have flipped over while doing my research for Encyclopedia of the Exquisite. But it’s never to late to…

California Girls
Though women in Hawaii had been surfing for centuries, Gidget, aka Kathy Kohner of Brentwood, California, sparked a revolution among millions of American teenager girls who dreamt of surfing—not just watching the guys surf—in the late 1950s. As a 15 year-old,…
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