Bowled Over
There’s an entry on the top hat in Encyclopedia of the Exquisite, but the story of the rise and fall of the bowler, the topper’s successor, is just as compelling. Created in 1850 by commission for William Coke II, Earl…
The Heights
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uk_viH4Unw&feature=player_embedded[/youtube] Besides being incredibly beautiful, this video of a rocket launcher falling from space back into the Earth’s atmosphere takes up several threads running throughout Encyclopedia of the Exquisite: clouds, pioneering air-travel (in hot-air balloons and via the first parachute), silence…
Throughout the Victorian era, belief in fairies ran deep, especially in England where scientists and historians joined the hunt. Some testified to the customs and archeological remains left by the elvin creatures, and well-educated types easily speculated on whether fairies…
Le pyjama de plage
Le pyjama de plage of the early 1930s—beach pajamas—were worn by all the best dressed women vacationing in Monte Carlo and in Cannes, started a slow, chic movement towards casual dressing in public. (To me, their backless sun tops were…
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