Period elegance and Valentine vanity in Paris

I was wandering around the backstreets of Paris doing a spot of window shopping, when I accidentally stumbled upon the Hotel Caron de Beaumarchais. This charming and romantic little treasure of a hotel looks absolutely perfect for a Valentine weekend in the city of love.

‘A rare piano forte from 1792, a card table, a fireplace, candles and chandeliers recreate the charm of a private town house in the Marais at the time of Beaumarchais and Mozart.’









The building is steeped in history, and named after the boisterous 18th century playwright, Beaumarchais, who lived nearby, and wrote The Marriage of Figaro in 1778 (adapted into the opera by Mozart in 1786).

Apparently, this is also where, in 1776, he founded the trading house from which George Washington was supplied with ships and gundpowder during the American Revolution until Independence in 1782.


The rooms are decorated in ‘fine fabrics in the style of the 18th century,’ and decked out with ‘antiques and period documents.’

What's more, the Marais is close to Notre-Dame and is a great area for quirky little shops, as well as some amazing museums. There’s a Louis Vuitton exhibition on until 27th February at the Musee Carnavalet, where some exceptionally luxurious luggage from the past two and a half centuries is on show. Included in this are some fabulous vanity cases with individually monogrammed pieces of dressing table ware.

Vintage dressing table sets have become very collectable and would make a lovely gift for Valentine’s Day (or any day for that matter).










Take a look at the selection available at ShopCurious. In fact, you could take this set (right) along to the Hotel Caron de Beaumarchais and it wouldn’t look at all out of place. Though you may prefer to simply powder your wig.

Do you?

Wish you were here...

Actually no, I wish I was there… back in the day when Nelson’s Monument in Great Yarmouth (the precursor to Nelson’s Column in London’s Trafalgar Square) was surrounded by cobbled stones. I’ve just searched on the internet and discovered (courtesy of Google Earth) that the road is now a common tarmac and the very stylish old warehouse buildings that once surrounded this awesome and curiously undiscovered landmark are now rather nasty looking light industrial units. Apparently, the ferry across the river Yare at that point no longer exists – but does anyone else in the blogosphere have fond memories of that delightfully cute little rowing boat?





It doesn’t get much better than when you are 8 years old and on holiday at your grandmother’s in glorious Gorleston-on-Sea, Norfolk. Mine lived in an annexe to my aunt’s house - formerly the Globe Inn, where it was said Nelson once stayed – and that was reputedly haunted (how cool is that?) Added to this were the attractions of plentiful supplies of sand, sea and Della Spina ice cream, plus divinely doughy smells wafting over the garden wall from the nearby Matthes bakery.





Great Yarmouth and Gorleston were resorts that were really in their heyday before I got to know them – during the 1950s and early ‘60s – so I decided to take a look at how they used to be. Here are some of the pictures I found on the internet. Plus this wonderful 1950s tourism video.





Noodling around on the net, I discovered that the iconic statue of Nelson was actually built before Nelson’s Column in London. Nelson was born in Burnham Thorpe in Norfolk and his first sailing was from Great Yarmouth. After the victory of the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, where Nelson died aboard the Victory, the townspeople of Great Yarmouth erected a statue in his honour. The 160 foot column was built to be seen from all sides of the town, though I'd hazard a guess that the magnificently monolithic power station now wins hands down - (note chimney on horizon in this pic).




The statue in London was built slightly later, by clearing some slums to create the open space now called Trafalgar Square and copying Great Yarmouth’s original version, but making it a few feet higher – and, therefore, more important (it was in London, after all!) ... and, besides, the seaside town later spawned a host of other famous landmarks.





The best thing of all for me as a child, was that Nelson's extravagant monument was on the way to the Pleasure Beach ... A place where you could enjoy the scariest of rides and the most curious of excitements – and, if you were lucky, take home a few interesting curiosities, ranging from candyfloss and bars of rock to goldfish in little plastic bags, ornaments made of shells and paperweights – plus star prizes that might include collectable seaside chinaware and dressing table sets.




Now sought after by the fashion and style conscious, an eclectic selection of these retro treasures is currently available at ShopCurious. Today they make rather unusual gifts, or uniquely quirky ornaments for the home – what's more, many of these are collectors' items that could turn out to be a great investment too.







By the way, do let us know if you’ve got any vintage seaside memories you’d like to share.

Will you?

Ageless Art Deco

The 1920s heralded a new age of glamour and saw the beginnings of our ever-growing obsession with youthfulness. The fashion for face lifts started at this time and, in 1927 (according to the Literary Digest), New York based dermatologist, Dr Charles F Pabst, advocated legislation to save American women from the effects of their “frantic and artificial efforts to make themselves beautiful”.

He argued that “The skin of a civilized man – and woman – is a delicate organ, as delicate as the heart, which works 24 hours a day, adjusting the temperature of the body, keeping infection from entering. It requires little external aid except daily washing in lukewarm water with a mild soap…”






He continued…“ The French Government recently adopted a law…in the French colonies, against mutilating the skin by the barbarous scarring of faces, stretching of lips and slashing the body. For such practices, in which the savages indulge in their mistaken pursuit of what they consider beauty, the French now impose jail sentences and fines…” Pabst felt that the US Government should follow this example and pass a similar law to affect women undergoing facial surgery, only making the punishment much harsher – to account for the fact that “the American woman has civilization and education on her side and yet she indulges in more savage methods of mutilating her skin.”


It would be really fascinating to hear the views of any of the pioneering ladies who underwent face lifting procedures during the 1920s or ‘30s, though I doubt that many, if indeed any, are still alive today. I suspect that nowadays, if you can afford plastic surgery, it might be considered much more daring and individual to refuse to succumb to the surgeon's knife.


Meanwhile, there’s plenty of surviving evidence of the labours of past female beautification in the form of unique and timeless treasures from the Art Deco era. At ShopCurious, we’ve some fabulously stylish 1930s hand held mirrors and dressing table sets, as well as a vintage Art Deco manicure set in its original ruched-silk lined, papier mache box.

From the 1920s onwards, the first beauty parlours also started to appear. Prior to the '20s, it wasn’t thought at all proper for ‘nice girls’ to use cosmetics. By the way, if you’re curious to know more about authentic 1920s and ‘30s style makeup, I’ll be revealing some unusual non-invasive beauty secrets of the time in my next blog.

Are you?