Weekend Conversation Starters

[Messy Nessy Chic]   French word of the day: Vacances As of next week, I’ll be taking a summer vacation, so you may hear from me just a little less frequently this July and August, while I spend my first “holiday” with our bouncing babies. [The Concierge]( will still be open as usual for our Keyholders all summer long and you’ll still find some new articles if you check in on MessyNessyChic.com to get your fix of weekend conversation starters. Alas, you know me, I’ll check in on you every now and then. As promised, I’m leaving you with a weekend feast of Francophile content in the wake of Bastille Day celebrations. Stay curious, [Nessy]   [Parisian Street Sellers of Yore](  [10255707_636895766396903_542575356008552851_n]( Shopping in Belle Epoque Paris wasn’t exactly … well, convenient. General stores and grocery stores were still a very novel concept in the latter half of the 19th century, and the few that existed were only catering to the wealthy elite. There was also a French law that restricted merchants from selling or specialising in…  [Continue Reading](   [The Women Warriors who served Wine on the Battlefield](  [10255707_636895766396903_542575356008552851_n]( Forgotten feminist icons of the French military, the Vivandières, alternatively known as cantinières, was the French title for women attached to military units who sold wine to the troops and offered better cuisine on the battlefield than the army could offer. An often overlooked part of women’s and military history...  [Continue Reading](   [Bastille Day Street Parties of a Hundred Years Ago](  [1001762_491615554258259_2058178847_n]( Check out Le Petit Journal’s recap of lavish and loving Bastille Day street parties in 1914: “In none of the innumerable balls which were held in Paris during these festive evenings was a single serious incident reported. Few arguments, no fights. The people of Paris have proven that they know how to have quite a…  [Continue Reading](   [No More Than a Litre of Wine a Day, Recommends a 1950s French Sobriety Poster](  [1001762_491615554258259_2058178847_n]( Last night I was standing at the counter of our local café on Boulevard Saint Germain, finishing off a last glass of wine after work before heading home for the evening, when I noticed something behind the bar. I thought I must have been reading it wrong (I was on my third glass) because it said in French: “Never more than one litre of wine per day… the correct serving: one quarter of a bottle per meal,” and then beneath in large capital letters, “HEALTH, SOBRIETY“.  [Continue Reading](   [Jane Avril, “The Strange” Poster Child of the Moulin Rouge](  [10443430_659804477439365_4270216063228714557_n]( If you knew that “Satine”, Baz Luhrmann’s lead character in his 2001 movie musical Moulin Rouge! was in fact based on a real-life French can-can dancer called Jane Avril, the decision to cast Nicole Kidman might make even more sense. Avril, with her flaming red hair, thin lips and delicate facial features, tall gaunt physique…  [Continue Reading](   [The Country Bumpkins who gave us Parisian Café Culture](  [10443430_659804477439365_4270216063228714557_n]( When we think of Parisian café culture, we might think of the “intello-chic” literary crowd that congregated at the Café de Flore with Simone de Beauvoir and Jean Paul Sartre in the 1950s, or the glamorous flappers that held court on Boulevard Montparnasse during the Années Folles, mesmerising artists like Man Ray and Picasso...  [Continue Reading](   [In 19th Century Paris, She Held a Permit to Wear Pants](  [147749722_Bonheur_psd1890]( A cigarette-smoking, pants-wearing, animal-dissecting painter, Rosa Bonheur spent her life doing exactly as she pleased. 2022 marks the bicentenary of the birth an artist who opened countless doors for female creatives, both in her home country of France and abroad. Born in 1822 in Bordeaux, Rosa Bonheur was the daughter of Sophie Marquis, a piano…  [Continue Reading](   [13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. DCXI)](  [A6390713-4AFC-4758-8033-00A96F055A8B]( [Continue Reading](  Interested in Becoming a MessyNessy Keyholder? [Apply now to unlock the Vault!](    [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [LinkedIn]( [Blog]( [To read more from MessyNessyChic visit the Blog]( and make sure you keep getting these email by adding contact@messynessychic.com to your address book or whitelist us. Our postal address: In a Café, Paris 75001 Want out of the loop? [Unsubscribe](.