Coco Chanel by Lisa Chaney Read Free Book Online

the world. The penal code discriminated against women, and female adultery was considered far worse than adultery committed by a man. The state’s double standard assumed that male extramarital sex was inevitable—in fact, necessary. At the same time, the demimonde , the half-world beyond the bounds of respectability, inhabited by women selling their sexual favors, was rigorously controlled. In doing so, the state believed it was contributing toward the stability of the institution of marriage and simultaneously reducing the incidence of grim syphilis.
    The myriad names for these women subtly delineated their variety, hierarchy and place in male fantasy. Many, such as the “kept” women, the irrégulières or femmes galantes , did their utmost to avoid being registered as prostitutes. Each category of the trade had its own epithet, including the street prostitute, the brothel prostitute, the fille libre , fille en carte , fille de maison or fille de numéro . Then there was the grisette , the young milliner, glover or seamstress, who often took lovers to boost her pitiful earnings.
    Higher up the scale was the lorette , found in the fashionable cafés and restaurants of Paris’s grands boulevards , who often dreamed of becoming an actress, or might even dare to aim for the status of courtesan. The courtesan, the most highly prized prostitute, had many names: cocotte , biche , chameau , camélia (as in La Dame aux Camélias ), et cetera. In an era of conspicuous and ostentatious consumption, these women flourished as never before. At the pinnacle of the courtesan class itself were the grandes horizontales , lionesses , mangeuses d’homme, Amazones and the grandes cocottes . In lives of previously unimagined refinement and extravagance, they were a living myth, the image of desire. The loving recorder of the demimonde , Comte de Mournay (pseudonym Zed), aptly described the courtesan as “a luxury that surpasses all one’s wildest dreams.”
    While many men kept a mistress from a class lower than their own, they rarely lived with her, or not openly anyway. Maurice de Nexon and Etienne Balsan were two of the exceptions. While Etienne had already brought the celebrated courtesan Emilienne d’Alençon to the Château de Royallieu, he had now asked Gabrielle to join her. With so few men willing to risk their reputations by marrying their mistresses, if a woman flaunted the loss of her reputation, as Gabrielle was now doing, there was little she could ever do to regain it.
    Etienne was the least conventional of the three Balsan brothers and cared little that his behavior was seen as scandalous. He was stubborn and determined, with a fiery temper. He was also generous spirited, with a rare gift for friendship. Demonstrating his disdain for propriety, at Royallieu sociability was arranged with as much freedom from convention as possible.
    Although the demimondaine was generally shunned at private gatherings of respectable society, society women, just as much as men, were fascinated by the secrets of their success. As Balzac would observe, “Nothing equals the curiosity of virtuous women on this subject.” Unlike the common prostitute, available to any takers, or the ordinary mistress, the irrégulière , normally confined to one man, the courtesan had such power that she chose for herself those privileged enough to share the delights of her company. Indeed, men could offer a fortune for the pleasure of one night.
    Emilienne d’Alençon was one of these, and had earned for herself huge sums. She was a concierge’s daughter who had worked her way up from circus performer to caf’conc dancer to her final position of renown. Like many courtesans, her “payment” was often in the form of pearls or precious stones, giving rise to the grand courtesan’s sobriquet, croqueuse de diamants , or “diamond cruncher.” Caroline Otero, a beautiful and