Slightly Different Weekend Conversation Starters

[Image](   How do I look?  Did you notice something a little different about [MessyNessyChic.com]( today?  While you weren’t looking, we underwent a little make-over and now have a fresh new look for Spring!  In the logo’s new keyhole illustration, you’ll see two dark figures standing at the gate of the MNC fortress, which were inspired by the [doomsday fashion of the Azores islands](.   For fonts, we took inspiration from [all the different Ouija boards you never knew existed](.  For the colour palette, we referenced the work of Hilma af Klint, ([a 19th century mystic painter that art history needs to be rewritten for](), as well as the [lost art of hotel luggage labels](.  I hope you like it (or at least, don’t hate it) … and if you’re ever contemplating a new look that requires some graphic design inspiration, look no further than my [art & design awesomeness category](.  Here’s a sprinkling of references I go back to time and again: - [The Lost Art of the Movie Title]( - [An Ode to Vintage book design]( - [This guy who collects Do Not Disturb signs from hotels around the world]( - [She Spent her Life Hunting for Lost Wallpaper]( - [Pre-War Germany’s Buried Art Nouveau Magazine]( - [Vintage caravan culture]( - [Vogue’s Fabulous Five: The Golden Age of Illustration]( - [A forgotten ode to the little Paris shopfront]( As always, enjoy your weekend conversation starters. Stay curious, [Nessy]   [Travelling Modern Europe with a Victorian Railway Guidebook](  [85/14000.r.8, plate. 4]( Are you looking for a way to travel back in time? Well, we haven’t cracked the laws of physics yet, but we have the next best thing – a guidebook from another time. Move over Lonely Planet, Bradshaw’s was one of the original guides that inspired the British to travel the Continent for leisure. Bradshaw’s…  [Continue Reading](   [Drawing Boards for the Ballets Russes](  [9575705323_3ee053ca75_k-930x1332]( Nineteenth century Russia was restless, and so was Léon Bakst. The young man belonged to a new generation of creatives, one ready to turn Realism on its head with one flick of a bejewelled, utterly fabulous wrist. Today, his name is “a byword for excitement, for colour and glamour” and a radical new approach to…  [Continue Reading](   [A Brief Compendium of Places With Secret Passages](  [_111038430_hoc-4crop]( It is a well known fact that an underground tunnel connects 10 Downing Street, the British Prime Minister’s residence in London, with number 12 (we’re not sure why number 11 was left out) but it is surprising just how many residences, both old and new, are harbouring hidden passages. Secret doors and passageways have been…  [Continue Reading](   [Before the Flapper, There Was the Gibson Girl](  [gibson girls wallpaper]( Before the flapper came about as the embodiment of 1920s femininity, women in the late 1800s and early 1900s had a different role model from which to take cues – the Gibson Girl. She was the feminine ideal of this era and socially, the Gibson Girl had a very defined role. She was upper class, educated, athletic,…  [Continue Reading](   [13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. DCXLVI)](  [copertina-2]( 1. An ancient Algerian ruin  [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](.