3 most beautiful courtesans of the Belle Epoque

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

The beautiful era is called the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century, the time of luxury, serenity, great discoveries. Nothing foreshadowed the coming world wars, people enjoyed life. This time had its own stars. The role that supermodels now play in society was played by famous courtesans. Newspapers reported about their every step, their images were used in advertising. Women condemned them and dreamed of being like them, men fell in love with them. The most famous were the Beautiful Otero, Liana de Pugy and Emiliena d'Alanson.

Lovely gypsy

Carolina Otero remains in history as the Beautiful Otero. She was born into a poor Spanish family. At the age of 10 she was raped, and at 12 the girl began to dance for money in various cafes and brothels. Later she went to dance in Lisbon, where she began to study acting. At the age of 20 she already had her own impresario, and a year later, in 1889, she made a splash on the Parisian stage, becoming the star of the most popular variety show "Folies-Bergere".

To new acquaintances, she introduced herself as a gypsy from Andalusia. This exotic image inspired many artists of the time. She was painted, in particular, by Vrubel. Contemporaries recalled that one look of her huge black eyes made men numb. Others noted Carolina's slender waist and beautiful breasts. According to legend, the architect who built the Carlton Hotel in Cannes made domes in the shape of Otero's breasts.

The Spanish courtesan very quickly acquired the status of the most desirable woman in all of Europe. Her lovers were royals from different countries: England, Spain, Serbia and Monaco. The writer Gabrielle d'Anunzio and the Duke of Westminster, the Great Russian Duke Peter and Emperor Nicholas II could not resist her beauty (they describe the case of how Otero was served on a silver platter "for dessert" in a closed club at a dinner in honor of Nicholas II).

Each lover presented her with jewelry or houses, locks. Many men have died because of her beauty. Some of them fought in duels, others took their own lives, not gaining her favor.

The official husbands of the Beautiful Otero were the Italian Count Guglelmo, with whom she shared a marriage bed at the age of 14, and Rene Webb, an English industrialist who married her in 1906.

Caroline was a very rich woman. Alas, she had a passion for gambling, and she quickly squandered her mind-blowing state. Somehow, in order to help her companion to recoup, she gave him expensive buttons from her dress, putting them on the table instead of chips. After that, during the game, she had to hold on to her outfit so that the dress would not fall off.

La Belle Otero died in 1965 in dire poverty. She lost all her millions and lived on a small allowance that one casino voluntarily paid her in gratitude for the millions that the courtesan once lost from them.

Coco Chanel's rival

Emilia André (she later called herself Emilienne d'Alençon) began her career with circus performances. She had a number with trained rabbits. From the first moments of her appearance on the arena, the girl fascinated the audience. She was original in everything, starting with the hot pink taffeta dress, which the writer Jean Lorrain described as "crimson ice". But that is not all. D'Alanson also dyed her rabbits pink and dressed up in lace. This was very unusual at the time.

The image of the beauty inspired eminent artists and poets. She is depicted on the canvases of Toulouse-Lautrec and Jules Cheret. Marcel Proust admired her. Prince Yusupov wrote about his acquaintance with her in his memoirs.

Her lovers were, in particular, King Leopold II, the nobleman Jacques d'Huzes and officer Etienne Balsan. She shared the latter, by the way, with Coco Chanel.

Emiliena has an interesting relationship history with Coco. Once, while visiting Balsan, Coco tried on the clothes of the famous courtesan. And she drowned in the folds: the fashion designer was thin, and Emiliena was magnificent, like all the beauties of the Belle Epoque. Rumor has it that after that, the irritated Chanel decided to sew clothes only on people like herself, and made every effort to make the fullness go out of fashion. So it is possible that the modern fashion for thin women is a consequence of the fact that Coco Chanel had to eliminate a complete rival.

At the same time, Chanel admired the charming Emilienne. When she described to perfumer Ernest Beau what she wants from her new perfume, she described her impressions of d'Alanson. “It smells good, it smells clean,” Koko said then. Ernest created the scent that is sold today as Chanel No. 5. Chanel created one of her first hats especially for Emilienne.

d'Alanson officially retired from the scene in 1906. Her husband was the jockey Percy Woodland.

She devoted herself to breeding racing horses, was very fond of racing. Alas, this was not a profitable business. Very soon, the family jewels and D'Alanson porcelain went under the hammer. She moved to Nice, where she died in 1946.

Between an angel and a demon

Once the Beautiful Otero came to one of the trendy restaurants, hung with diamonds from head to toe. A minute later, Liane de Puji entered the room, her neck adorned with a single but giant diamond. Behind her was a maid, in whose hands was a velvet pillow with all of Liana's jewelry attached to it. (As for Emilienne d'Alanson, she had a Cartier corset set entirely in diamonds.)

Liana's real name is Anna Maria Chasseny; she was born into the family of a naval officer in 1869. Subsequently, she received a good religious education at the Morbihan monastery. When Anna Maria was 16 years old, she fled with a military man, to whom she soon gave birth to a son.

It soon became clear that family life was not going well: her husband beat her. And when he found Anna Maria in bed with another man, he tried to shoot her. She fled to Paris, leaving her young son. Later, she achieved a divorce in absentia. In the capital, the young adventurer met the famous playwright Henri Melyacom, who was fascinated by her beauty and helped her start her career as an actress in the Folies Bergère variety show.

Then she took the pseudonym Liane de Puzhi - as one of her former boyfriends called her. Her mentor was the magnificent Sarah Bernhardt. Famous artists vied for the right to paint her portrait, and the famous photographer Nadar was fortunate enough to photograph her.

Liana liked both men and women. She had affairs with the Marquise de Belbeuf and the writer Matilda de Morny. The actress described her intimate relationship with the writer Natalie Barney in 1901 in the novel "Sapphic Idyll".

De Pugy was a frequent visitor to the "Friday Night Salon" hosted by Natalie Barney. Rumors circulated in Paris that at these evenings, in addition to reading poetry, they smoked opium and hashish, arranged debauched dances and even orgies.

Pious city dwellers have tried many times to suppress the ugliness that was happening in this "nest of debauchery." They even made an attempt to set it on fire, but the stone house did not catch fire even after it was doused with kerosene. Another time, Liana was protected from the impending physical violence by her fans.

Which courtesan would you call the most beautiful?

	Carolina Otero
	Emiliena d'Alanson
	Liana de Pugy

Once Liana and Natalie invited the guardians of morality to another Friday night. And all evening they pretended to be chaste virgins, reading poems about unhappy love with tears in their eyes and dancing the most innocent and prim dances that were in vogue at that time.

In 1910, the actress became the official wife of the Romanian prince Georgy Gik, who was 12 years younger than her. After 16 years of family life, Geek left his wife for a younger beauty.

Towards the end of her life, Liana became very devout. She entered a novice in one of the churches of the Dominican order. She worked in an orphanage, took care of mentally disabled children. Death caught her on Christmas night, as she dreamed.