Mlle. Cléo de Mérode

French Belle Époque dancer Cléo de Merode poses in a Parisian park. This portrait might be considered one of the very first “candid” street fashion photographs. Wikipedia gives us further context into how famous she was: Cléopâtre-Diane de Mérode (1875-1966) was a French dancer of the Belle Époque. She has been referred to as the “first real celebrity icon” and the “first modern celebrity”. She was also the first woman whose photographic image, due in particular to photographers Nadar and Léopold-Émile Reutlinger, was distributed worldwide. (2024)

Carle de Mazibourg could also be considered one of the very first street fashion photographers:

This appetite for “real clothing” was initially exploited by photo journalists, obscure amateurs like Carle de Mazibourg or Edmond Cordonnier, who in 1901-1902 took the first trackside snapshots at the race courses-the primary location for making and unmaking fashion. Their photos were published in popular magazines like Paris Illustre or La Nouvelle Mode. Little by little, the illustrated newspapers adopted the practice of including a few photos of fashionables at the track under the rubric “Society News.” (1.)

Carle de Mazibourg: Paris amateur photographer: dates unknown

CARLE DE MAZIBOURG is one of the rare amateurs who practice portraiture; it is a difficult genre due to the pose and lighting of the model. He succeeds very well in backlighting, like Rembrandt. His three portraits of lady artists on mezzotype paper have a very artistic, distinguished stamp and the whole lives and breathes the joy of living. (2.)

Around 1895, Mazibourg was a member of the professionally oriented Societé Française de Photographie Paris. From 1894 to 1902, the Hamburg Amateur Photographers’ Association, which since 1895 has been known as the Society for the Promotion of Amateur Photography Hamburg, had him as a corresponding member. (3.)

1. Sylvie Aubenas, Virginie Chardin, Xavier Demange: Trend Setters at the Racetrack: from: Elegance: The Seeberger Brothers and the Birth of Fashion Photography, Chronicle Books: 2007: p. 31