How gossip broke the fate of the first fashion model, style icons, artists' muses: ballerina Cleo de Mero

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The life story of the famous French ballerina Cleo de Merode, became famous at the beginning of the 20th century, and to this day excites the minds of contemporaries and makes for more than a century admire her wondrous beauty, divine talent and charisma. Cleopatra has been a muse for European artists, sculptors and photographers all her life, inspiring with her pristine beauty and extraordinary grace. She was admired by men, envied and imitated by women. The dancer herself had only one passion - ballet.

Cleo de Merode was a model for Edgar Degas and the Italian portrait painter Giovanni Boldini, she also posed for the French sculptor Alexander Falgier, she was painted by the creator of the famous advertising posters "Moulin Rouge" Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, photographed by Leopold Reutlinger, Felix Nadar, she was also an acute object satire of Parisian cartoonists.

Little Cleo was born in 1875 into a noble but impoverished Belgian noble family called Van Merod. Her father was Karl Freiherr von Merode (1853-1909), a well-known landscape painter at the time. Belonging to an aristocratic family did not prevent her father from becoming a professional artist, and her daughter from becoming a dancer.

At the age of seven, my mother took the girl, gifted with extraordinary talent, to a ballet school at the Paris Opera. Although, after a while, evil tongues did not miss the opportunity to hint that young Cleopatra owes her brilliant career not at all to her choreographic talents, but only to delightful beauty.

From the first lessons at the ballet school, the young creature attracted the attention of teachers not only with its extraordinary grace, plasticity, light grace and fragility, but also

First beauty

The sophistication in appearance of Cleo de Merode did not correspond much to the canons of the Art Nouveau era: Cleo was a small sprout and did not at all resemble the defiantly luxurious beauties of those times. However, Cleo's non-standard beauty, her fabulously thin waist, luxurious curly hair and huge eyes shocked everyone who saw her. Therefore, in 1896, the readers of the Parisian magazine chose her as the "Queen of Beauty". The applicants were 130 lovely girls. It was then that Cleopatra was recognized as the first beauty of the Parisian scene, who bypassed Sarah Bernhardt herself.

Hostage of beauty

A century later, it is difficult to say what made Cleopatra Diana de Merode the most beautiful woman in France at the beginning of the 20th century most of all. Her angelic face, beauty driving men crazy, her grace, femininity and charm on the stage, impeccable sense of taste, elegance, or rumors and gossip that haunt the talented ballerina all her life.

Gossip and slander are the companions of a ballerina's life

Dirty gossip and baseless slander haunted this beautiful woman all her life. She repeatedly had to defend her good name and reputation even in court, which suffered greatly due to the harassment of King Leopold II of Belgium.

The beauty of the ballerina drove 61-year-old Leopold crazy when he first saw her on stage in Bordeaux. The girl was 38 years younger than him, which did not stop him from losing his head. Many contemporaries assured that the monarch and the ballerina had a whirlwind romance, although Cleopatra rejected this fact all her life. Their personal acquaintance began with a giant bouquet of roses that Leopold presented to the ballerina. And, as she argued, that was the end of it. But no matter how the girl tried to protect her honest name, the reputation of the king's favorite was firmly entrenched in her. Cheerful Parisians and Belgians nicknamed the monarch-admirer "Cleopold", and the press was literally flooded with caricatures, which were one sharper than the other.

- wrote in the memoirs of Cleo de Merode.

And the real reason for such a resonant attitude towards the dancer lay in the fact that from the 18th century until the First World War in the French state there was a strong conviction against girls performing on the stage and openly demonstrating their charms on stage. All of them were indiscriminately considered courtesans.

In addition, the scandalous sculpture "Dancer" by Alexander Falgier, presented at the Salon in 1896, for which Cleo posed, added fuel to the fire. The sculpture of the ballerina was naked. And no matter how Cleo tried to convince everyone that this statue is only her face, the audience, no longer wanting to believe in the integrity of the ballerina, recalled her romance with the Belgian king and other hard-hitting stories.

Scandalous fame followed Cleo literally on his heels. And she, wanting at least for a while to hide from annoying admirers, envious and detractors, leaves Paris and goes on a long tour of the cities of Europe and America. She also came to St. Petersburg, and in the Russian ballet it was this French ballerina who was the first dancer who danced on stage with a male partner.

First fashion model

With the development of the art of photography, the image of Cleo has gained extraordinary popularity throughout the world. The most famous photographers in Paris literally experimented with the adorable image of Cleo. Her beautiful face began to appear on postcards in great demand, on the pages of famous magazines. Cleo very willingly posed in front of cameras, which brought her fame as the first professional photo model.

By the way, postcards depicting Cleopatra de Merode in the 1900s were so replicated that they could be found in a wide variety in every European state. Yes, what is there in the European … She was once considered a "postcard Madonna", her photos were sold everywhere - from Russia to America and Australia.

Style icon

Cleo is considered the inventor of a new hairstyle. In all of her photos, sculptures, picturesque portraits, you can see her gorgeous hair smoothly styled, parted in a parted part and lowered over her ears, and gathered in a low knot at the back. This styling was called "Cleo de Merode". However, evil tongues slandered: "they say, the dancer was forced to cover her ears, because she … did not have half of one of them!" Nevertheless, imitating the famous dancer, all European fashionistas at the beginning of the twentieth century began to wear such a hairstyle.

Among other things, Cleo was an extraordinary fashionista and was considered a style icon of the early 20th century. Nowadays, her incredible outfits can be seen at the Palais Galliera - Paris Fashion Museum.

With the outbreak of the First World War, Cleo de Merode practically left the stage, sometimes only participating in some performances.

To all Cleo's talents must be added literary. After leaving the stage, she began to write memoirs in which she recalled in detail about her life, dedicated to her beloved work, about touring the world and about many other things that worried the ballerina. In 1955, 10 years before her death, Cleopatra de Merode published her memoirs "Ballet - My Life".

Cleo de Merode lived a very long and fruitful life. Sometimes, dancing even in her 50s, she was still graceful, gorgeous and charming. Her life was cut short at 91, her heart stopped beating in 1966.

Above her last refuge in the Paris cemetery, a sculptural tombstone was installed, the author of which was the Marquis, Spanish diplomat, amateur sculptor Luis de Perinat. He was the only known lover of Cleo to hide her personal life so carefully. Their relationship lasted for about thirteen years. And from the fact that her personal life was deeply hidden from the public, gossip and gave rise to various speculations - one more absurd than the other.

Summing up the above, it is probably worth saying: well, how can this be - such a beauty, a magnificent dancer, a "star" of the beautiful era - and with an impeccable reputation ?! and without a scandalous romance ?! Naturally, it was very difficult to believe in her benefactor and integrity …

Continuing the topic of talented and famous women of the past centuries, read: Sarah Bernhardt's Unknown Talents: As an outrageous actress, she sculpted sensual sculptures and wrote books.