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en passant© Foundling Museum
London's first public gallery
Who gave Londoners their first picture gallery? A coalition of castaway children and high society, led by an arriviste, outspoken sea captain! Although it sounds completely improbable, this is a story you can still see for yourself. Just pay a visit to the Foundling Museum in Bloomsbury.
Londoners are acutely aware of fashion and this was no different in the 18th century. Then, as the booming city’s population doubled,...
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en passant© J.P. Poulet
Valentine or vice?
Lovers padlocked to Paris forever? Two souls that seal their future ensemble dans la perspective d’un beau monument ou d’une belle vue? Whatever the impulse, more and more couples are attaching tokens of their bonds to our loveliest bridges – before casting keys to their padlocks into the Seine.
Their legacy? The city’s cadenas d’amour, better known among les internautes as “love locks”....
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en passant© A. Sheppard
Smells like team spirit
Perfume history might seem a natural choice for Harrods, with its acres of cosmetics. But the store’s transition from retail monument to upscale tourist trap makes it hard to imagine they could be showing anything special. Apart, that is, from that incomparable statue in wax of Mohammed Al-Fayed or – even more mind-boggling – its Dodi-and-Di memorial. (Inspiration: Hyde Park’s Peter Pan statue. Execution: a drea...
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en passant© S.Sampson
Two odd birds for Tate Britain
The objects, one hanging suspended and the other lying side-swiped, are decommissioned war aircraft. They comprise the Tate Britain Gallery’s 2010 Duveen Commission by artist Fiona Banner. The curator is Tate Britain’s Lizzie Carey-Thomas.
Ms. Banner admits to a long obsession with fighting aircraft. She once created as art a “wordscape” by transcribing the whole of the movie ‘Top Gun’. He...
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en passant© J.P. Poulet
On with the dance
Repetto uses the romance of ballet to provide ultra-feminine fantasies with their windows. These always draw from the magic of classic dance, which they link to everything sweet and seductive. Founded after World War II by Rose Repetto, (mother of the great 20th century choreographer Roland Petit), the company is known worldwide for launching flat shoes as a fashion craze.
Their secret weapon, then as now, is the ballerine. ...