What is a Lorette?
Although the lorette toed the line between fact and fiction, there is no doubt that a lorette is a literary figure based in reality. The name comes from Notre-Dame-de-Lorette in the 9th Arrondissement in Paris, the location where they were believed to reside [1]. In literature and other media, she was a social climber who hated work and was always looking for a richer man to take care of her, until she eventually gained enough social status and recognition to potentially find a husband. The lorette was feared because she was often mistaken for an “honest woman,” or a married woman who abides by all the social and cultural norms of a moral society, and would even dress and act more sophisticated than the average honest woman. Although a lorette may appear as an honest woman, her sexuality and daring nature made her something no honest woman could ever be [2]. This also applies to how she found her clients. Although there is little to no information concerning how she attracted her clients, her independence and daring qualities aided this process. Finally, the lorette is portratyed as an all-consuming identity rather than an occupation in historical and literary texts. However, due to the lack of first hand narratives from the lorette it is unclear if this is true.
Maurice Alhoy, the author of the Physiologie de la Lorette, a satirical publication, describes the typical lorette first by saying that she escapes any definition [3]. He proceeds to describe her more clearly by comparing her to the grisette, a kept woman for students, to highlight their differences in lifestyle. While a grisette takes on cooking and cleaning responsibilities for the student, lorettes hate to work, preferring to be taken care of rather than being the caregiver. In a more specific example, a grisette smokes from a pipe while a lorette smokes expensive cigars, and grisettes drink cider while lorettes indulge in champagne [4]. The lorette enjoys a more luxurious lifestyle while a grisette's is more mundane. Alhoy is depicting the materialistic behaviors and lifestyle that the lorette strives for.
In the first edition of De la Prostitution dans la Ville de Paris, a text which examines sex work in Paris, Alexandre du Parent-Duchâtelet never explicitly uses the term lorette, but she is alluded to as a femme galante, a kind of "kept woman" [5]. His description of the femme galante is the most fitting for the typical lorette as she is either fully or partially kept, just like a lorette is. He seems to further describe a lorette, explaining that the femme galante works to support her luxurious lifestyle and to make sure that her status is visible [6]. She charges a high price for her services, has a composed appearance, is clever, and is better than others at the art of seduction [7]. Most importantly, Parent-Duchâtelet says that nothing can distinguish a femme galante from an honest woman, which parallels the lorette Maurice Alhoy describes [8]. Parent-Duchâtelet claims that the femme galante comes from all sides of the city to make a fortune off of debauchery, which is paralleled in fictional representations of the lorette [9].
Parent du Châtelet’s second edition of De la Prostitution dans la Ville de Paris, unlike the first edition, uses the term lorette. It is unlikely that Parent-Duchatelet himself was the one who chose to use the term as he was deceased at the time of publication. The editor's choice to use lorette in Parent-Du Châtelet is meaningful in itself since it shows that the term “lorette” had a basis in reality [10]. Some scholars argue that it was Gavarni who cemented the term "lorette" as a cultural figure in the 1840s, which would explain why lorette isn't used until the second edition of Parent du Châtelet's work [11]. In general, the lorette is described as a menace to society, rebellious, and a threat to the honest woman. According to this version of De la Prostitution dans la Ville de Paris, the lorette is "impatient with the law and difficult to govern,” which confirms descriptions of the lorette [12]. The lorette first appeared only in fiction, but over time became normalized as a nonfiction term.
In fiction and nonfiction, the lorette is portrayed as the most dangerous threat to the honest woman because she could disguise herself as one of the upper class. In Accessories to Modernity, Susan Hiner describes how luxury items and fashion accessories became “the principal markers of distinction” [13]. These items were supposed to be reserved for honest, married women because they were often gifts from husbands to their wives. However, as Hiner says, “these items were erotically charged and increasingly accessible, making them extremely potent components of the fashion system, capable at once of marking off elites and allowing imposters to pass as elites themselves” [14]. One of these imposters was the lorette and her cashmere shawl. In 19th century France, "cashmere fever," an obsession with the fabric, took over Paris becasue it was seen as a luxury fabric [15]. Cashmere would “guarantee the young lady’s value as a commodity in the marriage market” [16]. An image depicting a young french women in a cashmere stole entitled "The Cashmere Monologues" is viewable to the left. As a culturally significant item, lorettes utilized cashmere to appear as an honest woman.
Parent-Duchâtelet and Maurice Alhoy provide competing narratives about the fate of the lorette. Both agree that lorettes can become too old to continue their work. Parent-Duchâtelet did many studies on the fate of prostitutes as they either age or decide to quit doing sex work. Parent-Duchâtelet details how some prostitutes set themselves up to retire or move on to a different profession [17]. He also talks about cases where this does not happen. He gives one example of a kept woman who initially was successful as a lorette – she was beautiful and taken care of by a wealthy man who gave her a large allowance every week – but despite things going well for her at first, she fell into misfortune and lost most of her wealth, eventually living in a run-down apartment in Paris [18]. Maurice Alhoy offers a more positive perspective on the fate of lorettes, writing that they know how to profit off aging better than anyone else [19]. He says that they realize exactly when they are past their prime and blackmail previous important customers, such as policemen or government officials, with their love letters for money [20].
Paul Gavarni, a famous 19th century French caricaturist, also depicted the aging lorette in his lithograph “At the moment, I sell pleasure for the girls,” which is shown here. The caption reads “At the moment, I sell pleasure for the girls." This depiction of the old lorette is much different than Alhoy’s description. This lorette is clearly tired and she is dressed in shabby clothing and appears to be poor. In short, the fate of the aging lorette is not as consistently described as her other qualities, such as her vanity and desire for material things. Despite all of these different ideas and assumptions about the fate of the lorette, it is more likely that her outcome was much less dramatic and exciting than these accounts. Most lorettes probably ended up getting married, settling down, and living out the rest of her life as an middle class honest woman, as described in De la Prostitution Dans la Ville de Paris [21].
There are countless more examples of the lorette in literature and other media representations. The parallels of how she is depicted in satire, lithographs, and monographs, such as those Maurice Alhoy, Paul Gavarni, and Parent Duchatelet, not only prove that she was real, but that she also did cause anxiety among the upper class.
[1] Czyba, Lucette. 1998. Écrire au XIXe siècle: receuil d'articles offert par ses amis collègues et disciples. trans. by Liam Oznowich. Besançon: Annales littéraires de l'Université de Franche-Comté. 41.
[2] Parent du Châtelet, Alexandre-Jean-Baptiste. 1836. De La Prostitution Dans La Ville De Paris. trans. by Noelle Marty. Vol. 1. Bruxelles: Hauman, Cattoir. 174.
[3] Alhoy, Philadelphe M. and Paul Gavarni. 1841. Physiologie De La Lorette.Paris: Aubert [u.a.]. 2.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Although Parent Du Châtelet also discusses a femme entretenue, another term for kept woman,we have chosen not to focus on it as a femme galante is a more specific subcategory that better relates to the lorette.
[6] Parent du Châtelet. 1836. Vol. 1. 174.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid. 39.
[10] Parent du Châtelet, Alexandre-Jean-Baptiste. 1857. De La Prostitution Dans La Ville De Paris. trans. by Noelle Marty. Vol. 1. Bruxelles: Hauman, Cattoir. 96.
[11] Czyba. 42.
[12] Parent du Châtelet. 1857. Vol. 1. 96.
[13] Hiner, Susan. 2010. Accessories to Modernity.Philadelphia [u.a.]: University of Pennsylvania Press. 14.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Ibid. 78-79.
[16] Ibid.
[17] Parent du Châtelet. 1836. Vol 2. 3.
[18] Ibid.
[19] Alhoy and Gavarni. 16.
[20] Ibid.
[21] Parent du Châtelet. 1836. Vol 2. 3.