Existing comment:
Dressed to Seduce
This ornate bodice may have belonged to Mata Hari. She wore similarly provocative costumes on stage -- modeled on those she'd seen in the Dutch East Indies -- with a confident sexuality that defied traditional feminine modesty.
Mata Hari countered charges of indecency by describing her dance as an artistic "sacred poem (and herself "the temple"), exploiting European fascination with cliches of the exotic East. |