A Match Made in Heaven
When Rita de Acosta Lydig divorced her first husband, the settlement she received was the equivalent of seventy-three million dollars in today's money. And where does a beautiful young divorcée go to...
Curiosities
The posts in this category encompass a variety of topics. What they have in common is that they’re all things I learned while researching one of my costuming projects. I hope you’ll find them interesting as well.
La Rentrée
When school in France ends for the year, life slows down for everyone. Many children are sent to visit cousins or grandparents in the country (there are special trains just for this...
Underneath it All
If you find yourself curious about antique “flapper” dolls, you’re not alone. The current excitement over the release of an accurate reproduction of the 1469 head and body has got many of...
Crazy for Flowers
When Georges-Eugène Haussmann began his renovations of Paris in 1853, the effect on her residents was immediate. However, nothing impacted the public more than the explosion of light and flowers created by...
The Dirty Little Secret of the Paris Opera
The Palais Garnier was built for the Paris Opera from 1861 to 1875, at the behest of Emperor Napoleon III. Like many of Paris’s newly refurbished establishments, what it offered to the public was far...
La Mode à la Girafe
There was a time, not so very long ago, when the average person had never seen lions, zebras, alligators, or elephants in person. Prior to the development of photography, there were only...
The Grand Magasins of Paris
A remarkable coincidence exists in French history. On each July 14th since 1880, Bastille day has been celebrated. What's not been memorialized is the quiet entrance, on this same day, of a...