Strange Flowers guide to Vienna, part 1

… in which we scour the old town for old friends

Dress-down Friday: Barbette

Is there anything about the description “cross-dressing Texan aerialist in between-the-wars Paris” which doesn’t compel the attention?

World Famous Aerial Queen

Despite the name Barbette was neither French nor female, having been born Vander Clyde in Round Rock, Texas in 1899. In Paris he caught the attention of writers such as Jean Cocteau, who called him “one of the most beautiful things in the theatre”.