18th Century France
In the 19th century in Paris, “kept-women” analogous to courtesans existed within a liminal context, as they were simultaneously a part of elite society—interacting with the wealthy noble men by whom they were “kept”—and social outcasts, evading the law and societal norms. These courtesans were referred to as “dames entreneues,” and their lives were inextricably linked to Paris’s existence as a fashion hub. “Clothing and fashion were extremely important to dames entreneues. Successful kept women not only followed the latest fashion trends, but they also set them…”[1] The fashion world and the courtesan were involved in an ouroboric relationship, which begat both trends and careers in fashion and sex work.
The courtesan’s relationship to the fashion world was somewhat cyclical. Patrons would frequently give gifts of clothing and accessories to their dames entreneues, which would lead to frequent visits to the fashion merchants, or, marchandes de modes. These marchandes de modes employed young, often very attractive women grisettes. The grisettes would sit in front of a “big glass window”[2] Louis-Sebastien Mercier in Le Tableau de Paris wrote, “Sitting at the counter in a line, you see them through the windows. They arrange the pompoms, trinkets, and decorations that fashion creates and varies. You eye them freely and they meet your eye… The pretty ones would be the sultan’s favorites and the others would be their guardians.”[3] While here it may seem as though the grisettes are being objectified against their will, many young women engaged in the fashion industry actively sought out this attention. They were “active agents in creating sex lives for themselves looking to be maintained for ‘very little and without scandal.’”[4]
Many of the young grisettes, seeking to sate their “taste for libertinism” and “desire for more clothing and accessories,” would turn to courtesanship in order to live the fashionable, trendsetting lives they helped facitlitate for other dames entreneues before them. One courtesan, Jeanne Béroud was employed first as a seamstress and then as a grisette where after two years of work she met and became the mistress of the vicomte de Sabran. One of the most successful dame entrenues, Jeanne Bécu, Madame du Barry, began her career as a grisette. Bécu would go on to attain the title of maîtresse-en-titre, or, chief mistress of the King under King Louis XV. The maîtresse-en-titre lived lavishly in the court with her own official apartments and had a semi-official title. Madame du Barry was even painted by Elisabeth Vigee Lebrun, the official painter of Marie Antoinette and the court. When the courtesans either tired of their patrons or vice-versa “…some kept women became marchandes de modes on retirement from prostitution.”[5]
In the case of 19th century France, courtesans were so tied up within the fashion system that it appears impossible to unlink them from the creation of fashion and trends themselves, let alone deduce their influence as consumers.
[1] Kushner, Nina. Erotic Exchanges: The World of Elite Prostitution in Eighteenth-century Paris. New York: Cornell UP, 2013. Print., 67