My Deselegância Discreta

…[Sindiso Nyoni] fuses Zulu/Ndebele pattern art, and traditional Nguni gear with retro racing gear, to suggest an Afrofuturist approach…

[Street decorated for Democratic National Convention] West Baltimore Street near North Charles Street, Baltimore, Maryland 1912 Unidentified photographer 4x5 inch glass negative A. A. Seifert Collection Baltimore City Life Museum Collection Maryland Historical Society MC4817 Full image and detail. Click to enlarge. 

Google Maps Street View of area today: 

IF BY SEA

Google Maps won’t tell you how long it’ll take to get from Barcelona to Miami—but Lapham’s Quarterly will!

(BONUS: Settle all late-night arguments about how many days the Pilgrims actually spent aboard the Mayflower, once and forever)

Dec 27 ➳ TOSCA STYLE - As Individual As You Are ✔ VisitUs ✔ FollowUs ✔ AskUsQuestions

Retro Pin-up Barber Shop 

The Township Diaries x AFRICA

Location: Daveyton Township, South Africa

Photographed by: Anthony Bila Follow on Instagram: The Expressionist

Warhol Superstars | Then & Now

(Top) 1969 Andy Warhol and members of the Factory, New York City, | Photo: Cecil Beaton

(Bottom) 2006 Andy Warhol Factory Reunion, New York, NY | Photo: Todd Eberle

Meet the Night Witches of World War II

The [588th Night Bomber Regiment of the Soviet Air Forces] was the most highly decorated female unit in that force, flying 30,000 missions over the course of four years — and dropping, in total, 23,000 tons of bombs on invading German armies. Its members, who ranged in age from 17 to 26, flew primarily at night, making do with planes that were — per their plywood-and-canvas construction — generally reserved for training and crop-dusting. They often operated in stealth mode, idling their engines as they neared their targets and gliding to the bomb release point. As a result, their planes made little more than soft “whooshing" noises as they flew by.

Those noises reminded the Germans, apparently, of the sound of a witch’s broomstick. So the Nazis began calling the female fighter pilots Nachthexen: “night witches." They were loathed. And they were feared. Any German pilot who downed a “witch" was automatically awarded an Iron Cross.