la belle époque

[Yves] Mirande promised me that he would be up and about soon, and would show me how men revelled in the heroic days of la belle époque, but I had a feeling that the bell was cracked.

1959 April 3, A[bbott] J[oseph] Liebling, “A Good Appetite”, in The New Yorker, New York, N.Y.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 20 Apr 2021

Miss [Lydia] Thompson was a smart businesswoman, and surely helped break down America's prudish morals. However, my personal brand of burlesque owes more to the fabulous showgirls of la belle époque in Paris.

2006 March 25, Dita Von Teese [pseudonym; Heather Renée Sweet], “A brief history of burlesque”, in The Independent, London: Independent News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 07 Dec 2008

This claustrophobic picture (aka L'Apollonide – Souvenirs de la maison close) is a frank, unexploitative account of life in a smart Parisian brothel in 1899 and 1900. It demonstrates that la belle époque was less belle for the girls than for their wealthy clients, though better than walking the streets or working in a sweatshop.

2012 January 29, Philip French, “House of Tolerance – review”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 Feb 2014

“This isn’t how France should be,” he [Pascal Lamy] says. “During la belle époque [the late 19th and early 20th century], France achieved huge economic success and the state was barely involved, so allowing French creativity to bloom.” The end of la belle époque was marked by the start of the First World War.

2014 October 12, Liam Halligan, “How did France get it so wrong?”, in The Daily Telegraph, London: Telegraph Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 20 Dec 2015

And as good a place as any are the private houses of the Habsburgs, which now are open to the public. They embody what Henry James called “the palpable, imaginable, visitable past” — in this case, la belle époque as if frozen in amber.

2018 February 2, Walter Nicklin, “In the Czech Republic, Habsburg family homes offer a haunting glimpse into history”, in The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 02 Feb 2018

Absinthe is a clear green liqueur that was in vogue during La Belle Époque, an era of peace and plenty from 1890 to 1914 in Paris.

2018, Lawrence R. Brownlee, “The Youths Who Behaved Bizarrely”, in A Doctor’s Tales, New York, N.Y.: Page Publishing, Inc, →ISBN

The woodshed is a rather grand affair, a capacious lean-to of honeyed stone built behind the dovecot by the Jacques family in La Belle Époque.

2023, John Lewis-Stempel, “March”, in La Vie: A Year in Rural France, London: Penguin Random House UK, published 2024, →ISBN, “Spring” section

It was not the city of la Belle Époque, though, that featured in the communiqué justifying the attacks on the French capital.

2015 November 17, Tom Holland, “Isil terrorists know next to nothing about Islamic history”, in Chris Evans, editor, The Daily Telegraph, London: Telegraph Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 17 Mar 2016

The property was reopened in summer 2016 after an extensive restoration bringing it back to the gilded glory of la Belle Époque.

2018 February 6, Reed Alexander, “Travelers rated this luxury hotel the best in the US”, in New York Post, New York, N.Y.: News Corp, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 06 Feb 2018

Hopper traveled to Paris in 1906 during the waning la Belle Époque, “the Beautiful Era,” leading to World War I. It was the Paris of Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s tangled lunchers and Gustave Caillebotte’s sauntering flâneur.

2021 January 9, Kelsey Ables, “In [Edward] Hopper’s early Paris paintings, reflections of today’s strange, desolate cities”, in The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 09 Jan 2021