1981 Adam Ant Costume, From The V&A.

1981 Adam Ant costume, from the V&A.

After starting his career in a punk rock band in the late 1970s, and acting in Derek Jarman's punk film Jubilee, Ant's musical and artistic direction changed after hiring Malcolm McLaren in 1980. McLaren's assistance in redefining their image resulted in the piratical theme that became a hallmark of Adam and the Ants, despite McLaren subsequently persuading the rest of the Ants to leave and form a separate band, Bow Wow Wow. After regrouping with a new backing band, Adam and the Ants became one of the most successful British acts of the early 1980s; their image and style of music was at the forefront of the burgeoning New Romantic movement.

Ant advised in the design of all his own costumes, indebted to historical, military and tribal dress, working with stylists and costumiers. This one is perhaps the most widely known of all, having been used for the publicity photographs and promotional video for the single, Prince Charming, and later on tour. There are two shirts, two pairs of breeches, two wigs and two scarves, not identical but in similar styles, all worn in different combinations on tour. The gold and black striped shirt and the dark silver leather breeches were worn for the publicity photographs and in the video.

Hunting Sword

1740s

Germany

It was pretty tops, actually.

OTP: The Doctor and his Spoon.

Ernst Haeckel, A variety of Ammonite forms, Sea Shells & Ocean Corals; Kunstformen der Natur / Art Forms of Nature (Lithography, Autotype print), c. 1904.

I know, right?

Mads Mikkelsen, by Patrizio di Renzo for TUSH Magazine, 2010

Pair of Flintlock Pistols

Samuel Brunn (English, London, recorded 1795–1820)

Silversmith: Attributed to Michael Barnett (English, London, 1758–ca. 1823)

Date: hallmarked for 1800–1801

Geography: London

Culture: British, London

Medium: Steel, walnut, silver, gold

These pistols are among the finest known examples of English Neoclassical-style firearms. Each stock is inlaid with engraved sheet silver and embellished with heavy cast-silver mounts. This decoration was inspired by contemporary French Empire firearms, such as those by Boutet also in the Metropolitan Museum's collection (acc. nos. 36.58a–c, 42.50.7a–n, and 1970.179.1). Several of the motifs are based on ancient Roman sources. On the sideplate, for example, the Nereid riding a sea-leopard derives from an engraving of 1762 depicting a wall painting in the recently found ruins of Herculaneum. On the trigger guard, the oval medallion representing Hercules with a defeated Amazon is copied from a well-known antique gem. The Medusa head on the butt also derives from Classical art, but here the idealized model has been transformed into a grimacing, almost humorous caricature of the legendary gorgon.