Famous Courtesans of the Second Empire
Cora Pearl in Paris – French Fashions and Displays
May 7, 2009
Cora Pearl was part of the demimonde, the “half-world” between respectability and prostitution inhabited by the luxury courtesans of 19th century Paris. Bewildered as to how Cora, an Englishwoman, managed to become the Queen of Paris courtesans, one of her contemporaries admitted that she was “a specimen of another race, a bizarre and astonishing phenomenon. And perhaps this is what explains her notoriety and was the cause of her prestige.”
Body Beautiful
Even those who found Cora Pearl vulgar admitted that her body was second to none, while her bosom was described as “marvellous and worthy of being moulded by some illustrious artist of antiquity”. More importantly, Cora Pearl knew the art of displaying her body beautiful to full effect. Her apartments, carriages, gowns, possessions and horse riding sessions were kept, presented, displayed and performed as visual and sensual delights to the eyes of the beholding men: she was the centre-piece.
Cora Pearl Fashions
Nothing expressed more the flamboyancy of the Second Empire than the crinoline, a structure of steel or a cage worn by women under ever widening skirts and flounces to produce a bell-shaped effect. Courtesans and aristocracy alike flocked to the father of haute couture, Charles Worth, legendary for his use of lavish fabrics and trimmings, to get their crinolines tailor-made. Among them and spending thousands of francs was Cora Pearl.
Expert in the art of self-display, Cora was aware that the crinoline was specially designed for the display of its folds and billows in an open carriage (Hickman). Cora’s ruinously expensive fashions included extravagant lingerie on which she had reportedly spent at one time more than £18,000. The French undergarment fashions, the tantalising tangles of silks and muslin, reflected the Second Empire’s obsession with show and display.
Horse riding was one of the French fashions of the day and a daily ride in the Bois de Boulogne in a carriage was a favourite. The carriages of Cora Pearl were renowned for their immaculate condition, well-turned out footmen and fine horses. The famous courtesan was also an expert horse rider – reputedly the first to appear on horseback. Roqueplan described her as a centauress and an Amazon: “For Cora Pearl, the horse in not only a luxury, it is an art”.
Cora Pearl Displays
Cora Pearl was the centrepiece of the lifestyle display she had set up around her. Expensive underwear, extravagant gowns and jewellery worth a million francs were lavished upon her for courtesans were status symbols for the men who kept them.
The Queen of courtesans displayed also the jewellery that was given to her by her famous lovers – worth all together a million francs: gold bracelets, necklaces and rings, including a priceless black-pearl necklace given to her by the Prince of Orange which became her signature jewellery.
Make-up, most often heavy, was also important and applied liberally. She was accused of been “shockingly overdone” but Cora Pearl was often quite original in her choice of self-ornamentation. She mixed different substances in her powder to create different effects. She created a sort of body glitter powdering her flesh with silver, frost, snow, milk, stars and pearls; made her eyelashes iridescent and dyed her hair (Rounding).
In particular her hair colouring was much discussed and imitated. Cora was at one time blonde, then black and then a fiery redhead. As it was written in Le Figaro of 27 September 1864, Cora Pearl was the one who started the latest craze in Paris for bright red hair being the first to unfurl this scarlet flag.
Sources:
The Memoirs of Cora Pearl, The Erotic Reminiscences of a Flamboyant 19th Century Courtesan, Ed. By William Blatchford, Granada Publishing Ltd: London 1983.
Katie Hickman, Courtesans, Harper Perennial: London 2004.
Virginia Rounding, Grandes Horizontales. The Lives and Legends of Four 19th-Century Courtesans, Bloomsbury: London 2004.
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