There are few names more famous than that of ill-fated French queen Marie Antoinette. Her legacy is so powerful that she occupies a surprisingly large, thoroughly wacky swath of the stock photography universe.
All your Marie Antoinette dreams are coming true! (Please note this venue is strictly bring your own wig powder and guillotine.)
There’s an entire, booming segment of the gadget business catering to the wealthy, building ever more elaborate Bluetooth-enabled designer kitchen appliances or whatever. But it’s certainly not a new phenomenon, as this circa-early 1800s jeweled silkworm/still-functional automaton attests.
These days, Asma al-Assad — wife of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad — has a lot on her plate. She's got 3 kids to Mom, a whole country to First Lady, an unstable, despotic, maybe-evil chemical weapons-wielding husband to Wife, and, most importantly, luxury goods to consume. Juggling the multiple responsibilities of…
What is the most you would ever pay for a pair of shoes? Maybe $1,000 if they were so beautiful they made you cry? Well, one bidder at an auction just paid more than $57,000 (43,225 euros) on a pair of shoes that they'll probably never even wear. The shoes are believed to have belonged to Marie Antoinette.…
Two teachers from Hawaii have tricked their students into learning by rewriting pop songs as history lessons. They've created nearly 50 videos, including French Revolution/"Bad Romance," Mary Queen of Scots/"Jenny From the Block," and Black Death/"Hollaback Girl."
Right now, at Versailles, as part of the "Sciences and Curiosities at the Court of Versailles" exhibit, one can view the tiny piano-playing automaton/android — with which Marie Antoinette entertained her court. She's gorgeous, talented, and gives serious side-eye.
Bill O'Reilly had author and humorist Glenn Beck over to the Factor last night to talk First Lady fashion. "Did you see the dress she was wearing when she went down and toured the oil spill? Did you see it?"
Today, Obit's Judy answers the plea of a teen who just wants to shout for joy now that a mean school principal is dead. Judy's advice was way too reasonable, so we asked a bunch of random dead people!
A woman wrote into Obit's "Ask Judy" with a real problem: an airline ruined her first-class flight with a dead body, and refuses to give her a refund! Given the subject, we thought we'd better ask some dead people!
Westwood's red label show in London took cues from nutty peasants; her show today in Paris was for royalty gone wacko.
This week, a dude wrote into the WaPo's Carolyn Hax with a relationship question. Her advice was great and all, but we were curious to see what famous dead people had to say!
A troubled wife consults Slate's peerless "Dear Prudence." Prudie takes care of sensible advice, so we went ahead and asked a bunch of dead people!
The writer may have asked The Spectator's "Mary." We asked a bunch of dead people!
The city of Grasse, the center of France's perfume industry since the 16th century, has reopened a museum dedicated to the history of scent. The more you know: Marie Antoinette loved violet perfume. [NPR]
And so it begins: as the cocktail party circuit has buzzed with the novelty of "cutting back" and "shopping their closets" and "haute frugality," the seething has started. And now it's becoming audible: "doesn't 'thrifty chic' make you want to vomit?" rails Alex Renton in today's Guardian. "Is there anything more…
