Cléo, The Original Influencer Icon
Cléo was Instafamous 100 years before Instagram
With her signature hairstyle, her glamorous life, and her elaborate stage costumes, Cléopâtre-Diane de Mérode — known by her stage name Cléo — took the world by storm when she was only eleven.
Born in Paris, France, on September 27, 1875, she was the illegitimate daughter of a Viennese baroness. Her father was an Austrian judge: Cléo did not meet him until she was a young adult, but he provided for her and her mother during her childhood.
Cléo was a pretty, graceful child, and her mother suspected she would blossom into a strikingly beautiful woman. She had the potential to become a star: all she needed was a stage. At the age of eight, Cléo was sent to study dance, and at eleven she made her professional debut at the Paris Opéra.
Mommy dearest was right: before Cléo even turned fourteen she had already posed for Impressionist master Edgar Degas and painter Jean-Louis Forain. Talk about an early start!
