Round and Round
Every time I go to Paris’ Jardin de Luxembourg I have to make sure that it’s there—Rilke’s beloved elephant, going round and round on the park’s carousel, as described in Encyclopedia of the Exquisite. The wooden carousel, created in 1879,…
Toes Mustn’t Show
In 1818 the formidable French etiquette writer Madame de Genlis (1746-1830) reminded proper ladies that when lounging on a divan, chaise longue or daybed, they’d better hide their feet under a couvre-pieds. “Decency demands it because, stretched out like that,…
Tip Top
Plenty of stylish types have worn top hats—an entry in Encyclopedia of the Exquisite—over the years. But did anyone ever wear a top hat with more panache than Marlene Dietrich did? She made her American movie debut in 1930 in…
In one of those rare moments that brings together a handful of entries found in Encyclopedia of the Exquisite, Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France met for a month-long gilded romp in 1520, cementing their friendship. In an…
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