Bathing Machines of The 19th Century

Back in the 18th and 19th century, the ladies just couldn't strip to their swimwear and run towards the waves on the beach. There are certain sea-side etiquettes that needed to be observed and decorum to be maintained. Getting oneself seen in their bathing costumes by the members of the opposite sex was certainly not one of them.

- Amusing Planet

 

Curious Photos Of Cynthia, A Superstar Mannequin In The ‘30s

In 1932, a life-like mannequin named Cynthia was created by Lester Gaba. After several shoots around New York City for Life Magazine in 1937, her career was launched, and for a matter of months, Cynthia became a household name.

- Design you Trust

 

The story behind the Christmas pickle tradition

If you’ve wondered about this lesser-known holiday tradition, you’re not alone.

Yes, you’ve already heard Nat King Cole sing about those chestnuts and that fire 50 times before mid-December even rolls around. But traditions, no matter how hackneyed they’ve become, are what keep us grounded during this stressful time of year.

For some people, those Yuletide rituals include having the little ones hunt for a pickle that’s hidden on the tree on Christmas morning.

- Seattle pi

 

The Humble Beginnings of Today’s Culinary Delicacies

Many of our most revered dishes were perfected by those in need, then co-opted by the affluent. Is that populism at play, or just the abuse of power?

Throughout history, foods that were once a marker of precarity and a lack of resources — dishes eked from scraps; tough cuts of meat; seafood too abundant to be of value to those who treasure rarity; wild roots scraped out of the earth with hardened hands — have gradually been co-opted by the upper classes, sometimes to the point that they’re no longer accessible to the people who once relied on them. For deliciousness has never been a fixed quality, wholly measurable by sensors on the tongue; it’s an invocation and reflection of memory, history and prevailing hierarchies. To have taste, in the cultural sense of showing discernment and an awareness of higher aesthetics, is to defeat taste in the physical sense: the animal instinct to simply eat what pleases us.

- NY Times

 

Photographer Richard Kern on nudity, selfies and his 59 portraits of women

He’s been shockin’, repulsin’ and pissin’ people off since his late ’70s beginnings as a subversive filmmaker. Now he’s back with a new photo book, Baron.

Richard Kern knows he’s pissing people off. At 66-years-old, the filmmaker turned photographer has just released his seventh instalment of Baron. Featuring 59 portraits of women, including photographer Petra Collins and actress Dasha Nekrasova, the photo series explores the dichotomy between girl and woman, nude and clothed, playful and deadly fucking serious.

The topless photos explore the power dynamic between the photographer (an old man) and the subject (a young woman), as well as the male gaze that comes with it. But also the subjects having total agency over their bodies.

- The Face