Affordable Style: Boutique Guesthouses of the Cyclades

The Cyclades have long been associated with dazzling whitewashed villages, blue-domed churches, and luxury resorts. Yet the soul of these islands often reveals itself in smaller pensions, guesthouses, and family-run boutique hotels. These are places where shutters open onto bougainvillea-filled courtyards, breakfasts feature homemade yogurt and figs, and hospitality feels effortless and personal. Here, authenticityContinue reading “Affordable Style: Boutique Guesthouses of the Cyclades”

Truman Capote’s Swans: Society’s Last Great Myth

In the gilded world of mid-century society, there existed a rarefied circle of women who seemed to embody elegance itself. They were wealthy, beautiful, impeccably dressed — but above all, they were admired for their poise. Truman Capote, who both adored and betrayed them, christened them his “swans.” To this day, their names evoke aContinue reading “Truman Capote’s Swans: Society’s Last Great Myth”

Brigitte Bardot: The Making of an Iconic Style

Few figures in 20th-century culture reshaped the visual language of femininity as powerfully as Brigitte Bardot. More than a film star, she became a style phenomenon — a woman whose clothes, gestures, hair, and posture seemed to crystallise a new mood in post-war Europe: sensual, insouciant, and utterly modern. Bardot did not merely wear fashion;Continue reading “Brigitte Bardot: The Making of an Iconic Style”

Brigitte Bardot (1934–2025)

Brigitte Bardot, the French actress, model, singer, style icon, and influential animal-rights advocate, has died at the age of 91. Born Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot on 28 September 1934 in Paris, she began her career as a dancer and model before moving into film in the early 1950s. Her breakthrough role in Roger Vadim’s And GodContinue reading “Brigitte Bardot (1934–2025)”

Babe Paley: The Perfection of Style

In the constellation of twentieth-century American society, no star glittered quite like Babe Paley (1915–1978). Born Barbara Cushing in Boston — one of the famed “Cushing Sisters,” whose marriages connected them to American dynasties — she rose to become not merely a socialite but a myth: the woman who defined what it meant to beContinue reading “Babe Paley: The Perfection of Style”

Edgar Allan Poe: The Architect of American Shadows

Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) remains one of the most singular figures in American letters: poet, critic, short story pioneer, and gothic visionary. His life, brief and tumultuous, has long been folded into the myth of his work — the impoverished genius, the tragic outsider, the writer of haunted tales who himself died mysteriously. But Poe’sContinue reading “Edgar Allan Poe: The Architect of American Shadows”

Elsa Schiaparelli: The Surrealist Couturière

In the history of twentieth-century fashion, few figures embody the dialogue between art and clothing as vividly as Elsa Schiaparelli (1890–1973). A Roman aristocrat turned Parisian visionary, she transformed couture into Surrealist theatre, collaborating with artists like Salvador Dalí, Jean Cocteau, and Man Ray. To wear Schiaparelli was not simply to be dressed — itContinue reading “Elsa Schiaparelli: The Surrealist Couturière”

Happy Holidays — A Gentle Closing to the Year

As the year draws to a close, the world seems to take a collective breath. Lights appear in windows, familiar songs drift through cafés and streets, and small rituals — old and new — begin to unfold. The holidays have a way of gathering time together, inviting us to look back as much as weContinue reading “Happy Holidays — A Gentle Closing to the Year”