Meet the Most Beautiful Woman in the World: Cléo de Mérode
This French ballet dancer was the modern era’s first real celebrity icon
She was the most famous woman in the world. Everyone knew her face. Millions scanned the newspapers for tidbits of information about her. Millions more purchased postcards, playing cards, and other items bearing her likeness. She was featured in print advertisements and on posters everywhere: the great beauty of the Belle Époque.
Dozens of painters, sculptors, photographers, sketch artists, and cartoonists labored to capture her image. Even scandal did not diminish her popularity. It only increased it. But today, hardly anyone knows her name. Who was Cléo de Mérode? Here is her story.
A child prodigy and teen trend-setter
Cléopâtre-Diane de Mérode (1875–1966) was born in Paris, France, into an aristocratic and artistic family. Her parents, Viennese Baroness Vincentia Maria Cäcilia Catharina de Mérode and Austrian judge Theodor Christomannos were not married and estranged. Consequently, the first time Cléo met her father, she was a young adult.
