One of ‘Gaba Girls’ on the Fifth Avenue, Life magazine, July 1937. Beauty icon for excentric designer Lester Gaba

Beauty icon for excentric designer Lester Gaba
Born in Hannibal, Missouri, in 1907, Lester Gaba was a talented designer, sculptor and window dresser. As a jewellery designer, Gaba worked for Albert Mfg. Co. which belonged to Albert Weiner. While working for this company, he designed a series of small rhinestone pave brooches called “Yankee Doodlers”. In 1939 Gaba designed for Albert Mfg. Co. a series called “Alice in Wonderland”, which was presented by Altman. Lester Gaba worked with Coro again in 1948 preparing a large presentation of Duettes.
Meanwhile, he started his career in the 1920s by making sculptures made of soap. These figures and miniatures were so impressive that they appeared in advertising campaigns. Also photographed for book covers and Christmas cards, exhibited in store windows and museums and even shown at the 1933-1934 Chicago World Fair. In the 1930s he started to create window-displayed mannequins, which at the time were heavy sculptures made of plaster.
More »

I believe, all pink panthers are black at night. International Pink Panther Day traditions

International Pink Panther Day traditions
First of all, Pink Panther is a well-known character of art and animated films, loved by both children and adults. And among the new and most unusual holidays, which the inhabitants of our planet celebrated for the first time on May 18, 2015 – the Pink Panther Day. Interestingly, the founder of the new holiday was a community called the Kingdom of Love. In particular, the community of friends, whose members are musicians, cooks and other enthusiastic creative natures.
According to the Founders of the holiday, it is the ability of this character to non-standard thinking and practical realization of ideas that have become the main motivations for the establishment of this new date. And specifically – repainting the world in pink, its humor and a positive attitude. In addition, the main symbol of the holiday became the Pink Diamond, as its “spiritual foundation” proclaimed non-standard thinking and changing the world around. After all, we can change the world around for the better, only by changing ourselves and our thinking.
More »

Mindy Robinson in The Green Fairy, 2016 film. US, Britain, Sweden. Symbolic Green color in British folklore

Symbolic Green color in British folklore

Green is a truly symbolic color in Celtic folklore, and in particular, in British forlklore. Together with red, green was the color most favored by the fairy races who inhabit the ancient Celtic lands. Many humans, especially in Scotland, traditionally refused to wear this color so as not to offend their fairy neighbors. Indeed, some Scottish families considered it fatal to use this color. Meanwhile, common associations between the green color and flourishing vegetation point to the fairies’ earlier incarnation as spirits of fertility and abundance.
More »

French heroine Joan of Arc (born 1412, died May 30, 1431, Rouen; canonized May 16, 1920; feast day May 30)

From the time when this legendary woman stepped on the ground, it has been more than half a millennium, but to this day her life, death, and even her image are shrouded in mystery. There are many theories about what was her origin, role in the history and intentions, but now, after not one hundred years, we can confidently judge that all the mysteries still surround the figure of Joan of Arc. And unlikely to ever be revealed … May 30, 1431 in Rouen, was burned at the stake as a heretic one of the main commanders of the French army in the Hundred Years War Joan of Arc, who later became a national heroine of France. But whoever Joan of Arc was – a saint, a martyr, a blessed witch, heroine, a criminal or a pawn in the hands of those in power – she will always remain one of the most mysterious women of history, worthy of memory and realization in art.
More »

Bridge mystic symbols. Moon Bridge in Taipei, Taiwan is one of the most mystical bridges in the world

First of all, Bridge is the symbol of the transition, in particular through the water, which separates the earthly world from the world of the beyond. It replaces the ferryman (carrier), which is similar to the system of the world carries the souls. However, bridges not only connect, but also symbolize the situation of transition to a new form of existence. Such locutions as “burn all the bridges behind”, “seek ford” (tip of the bridge), “build golden bridges” (promise much) and ‘donkey bridge’ (crib, a leading question) quite clearly express associated with that word symbols.
More »

Unique and beautiful Berber tribal women

Unique and beautiful Berber tribal women

The indigenous people of North Africa are not Negroid Africans and even the Arabs, but the people, called Berbers. Even more surprising is the fact that these people are representatives of the White Race, who had been subject to forced Islamization in the 7th century AD. Many Berbers are unaware that they are called Berbers, because they were given such name by other people, supposedly by the Romans. Berbers come from the Greek barbaros, or the Latin barbarus – ‘Barbarian’. Since the Greeks, and after them the Romans, called all the people, whose culture and language they did not understand – Barbarians. Now Berbers are called many Berber tribes that live throughout North Africa, from Egypt in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west, and the Sudan in the south to the Mediterranean Sea in the north, as well as in other countries, including European ones. The number of Berbers in the world is estimated variously – from 20 to 40 million.
More »

Ships at Saigon Flower Market at Tet Vietnam. Photo by Frank Fischbach

Saigon Flower Market before sunset – photo by German landscape photographer Frank Fischbach. These beautiful flowers will be sold for the Vietnamese New Year festival Tet. No matter what festival or a season – cool spring, hot summer, rainy autumn, or the cold winter … Saigon flower market is always crowded with buyers and sellers. When night falls it’s busy time for trucks to carry hundreds of tons of fresh flowers from France, Japan, China … to the night flower market. The people working in the night market have lost the concept of night sleeping, they work quietly at night to please the early risers with the most fresh flowers – narcissus, roses, chrysanthemums, tulips, daisies, orchids … They say Saigon has neither day nor night, just 24 hour break. This is true when we explore the night flower market in Saigon, Vietnam.
More »

Before they pass away – photo project by Jimmy Nelson. Drokpa people in India

Drokpa people in India
Series of unique photos by Jimmy Nelson, who is working on a remarkable series “Before they pass away” in different corners of our planet. His photo projects refer to rare and endangered peoples and tribes of the world. To create a new photo, Jimmy Nelson visits the most remote places, where there are still unspoiled traditions and customs. They still wear the national costumes, perform folk songs, doing the same as their ancestors things. They look really amazing, incredibly beautiful and completely different from the inhabitants of modern cities and settlements.
More »

Dutch Queen Wilhelmina and Princess Juliana as snowmen in the Netherlands (1913). Creation of Snowman

Creation of Snowman
In Russia, there is a good proverb “Prepare the sled in summer, and cart in winter”. Indeed, when, if not in summer to write about the most cheerful winter ritual – making snowman. Meanwhile, the tradition is very ancient. Thus, the first written mention of a snowman dates back to the 13th century. Interestingly, believe it or not, but first snowman was an evil character! That’s why many wanted him to melt. In fact, snowman represented frost, blizzard, short daylight hours, cold and other winter woes! Indeed, Snowman was the spirit of winter since ancient pagan times. Nevertheless, surrounded by a lot of prejudice, Snowman has survived. And in some areas of tsarists Russia, instead of January people used the word “snowman”! In addition, some sources also claim that the Slavs believed in living in the winter sky some nymphs who commanded snow, fog and snowstorm. And they sculpted snowmen to glorify and to honor them.
More »