"NOTHING is actually known about the Christian martyr who was buried near Rome on Feb. 14. There were a number of different St. Valentines; even Pope Gelasius had no idea who the guy was when he established a feast in his name in the fifth century. Historians assume that he did so as a means of whitewashing the pagan holiday Lupercalia, an ancient Roman tradition of worshiping the goat lord Pan (known as Faunus in Roman cosmology), to rid the city of evil spirits and restore fertility. A dog and a goat were usually sacrificed; salt cakes were burned by vestal virgins.
The high-end lingerie store Kiki de Montparnasse is named for the mistress of Man Ray, an artist’s model for a number of Dada guys back in the wild nineteen-teens. It’s quiet, sleek and expensive with dim, soft lighting, vintage black-and-white nude photographs and a library of erotic art and literature. They play slow, moany French lounge-pop and Portishead. The whole decadent vibe seems designed to be alluring even to the rich, uptight and squeamish who, in the past, may have shied away from the trappings of bondage because they seemed too garish and sleazy."
(rest of the NYT shoping article article here)
