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McQueen family tartan

The Widows of Culloden is the twenty-eighth collection of the British designer Alexander McQueen, made for the Autumn/Winter 2006 season of his eponymous fashion house. Widows was inspired by his Scottish ancestry and is regarded as one of his most autobiographical collections. It is named for the widows of the Battle of Culloden (1746) and makes extensive use of elements taken from Highland dress, including the McQueen family tartan (pictured) and traditional gamekeeper's tweeds. The collection's runway show was staged on 3 March 2006 during Paris Fashion Week, and marked a return to theatricality for McQueen. Widows was presented on a square stage with a glass pyramid at its centre. Fifty-one ensembles were presented across roughly three phases, ending with a Pepper's ghost illusion of the English model Kate Moss projected within the glass pyramid. Critical response was positive, especially towards McQueen's tailoring and the collection's balance of artistry and commercial practicality. (Full article...)

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Poster for Island of Lost Souls

... that in 1935 Paramount wanted to reissue the film Island of Lost Souls (poster pictured) but was denied by the Hays Code, due to the film's excessive horror?
... that for several decades, Soviet actress Maria Vladimirovna Mironova acted out scenes of a quarrelling couple on stage with her real-life husband?
... that a monument to honor the Jewish artist Jozef Israëls was destroyed during World War II, but the pieces were saved and it was restored and unveiled in 1946?
... that nearly two years after getting into a serious car accident that sidelined him for a full season, football player Juice Scruggs returned to the field, and was named All-Big Ten one year later?
... that New York City's Mansfield Hotel was developed by two neighbors from Vermont, one of whom later served as Vermont's governor?
... that Mary Taft said in 1799 that stopping women from "bring[ing] souls to Christ" would, one day, be unbelievable?
... that a "hacker" with blog posts written by ChatGPT was at the center of an online scavenger hunt promoting Avenged Sevenfold's album Life Is but a Dream...?
... that tyrant Thrasybulus of Miletus ended the 12-year Lydian–Milesian War with a fake party?

In the news

Luca Brecel

Nine people, including eight children, are killed in a school shooting in Belgrade, Serbia.
Palestinian Khader Adnan dies in an Israeli jail after an 87-day hunger strike protesting against his administrative detention.
Luca Brecel (pictured) wins the World Snooker Championship.
Ding Liren defeats Ian Nepomniachtchi to win the World Chess Championship.

On this day

May 3: World Press Freedom Day; Constitution Memorial Day in Japan (1947); Constitution Day in Poland (1791)

Benty Grange helmet

1491 – Nkuwu Nzinga, the ruler of the Kingdom of Kongo, was baptised as João I by Portuguese missionaries.
1848 – The Benty Grange helmet (pictured), a boar-crested Anglo-Saxon helmet similar to those mentioned in the contemporary epic poem Beowulf, was discovered in Derbyshire, England.
1921 – Under the British Government of Ireland Act, Ireland was partitioned into two self-governing territories, Northern and Southern Ireland.
1963 – Police in Birmingham, Alabama, used high-pressure water hoses and dogs against civil-rights protesters, bringing scrutiny on racial segregation in the southern United States.
2007 – Three-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann disappeared from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal; she has never been found.

Catherine of St. Augustine (b. 1632)
Jacob Riis (b. 1849)
Len Shackleton (b. 1922)

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Today's featured picture

Petasites hybridus, the butterbur, is a species of herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to Europe and northern Asia. Although used over centuries in traditional medicine to treat various disorders and sometimes sold as a dietary supplement, it has no approved medical uses. Concerns about the potential toxic effects of pyrrolizidine alkaloids limit its use in human and animal studies. This P. hybridus inflorescence was photographed in a forest near Keila in northwestern Estonia.

Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus

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