What was it with Mata Hari that captivated her regal and powerful audiences? Without the classic beauty of a Cleo de Merode, her statuesque figure and milky skin that was rare among European women made her stand out. Her figure would shame that of Venus de Milo. And she knew how to leverage her sultry appeal to win recognition. There was clear flirtatious style in all of Mata Hari's stage acts that garnered wide acclaim. Her most applauded segment was her progressive shedding of clothes until she wore nothing but her signature jeweled bra and some head and arm ornaments. Her exhibitionist act was an instant success as it defied acceptable norms in stage performance, pioneering on exotic dance, and liberating body expressions to erotic heights that Paris was later to become world-famous for.
Promiscuous even at a tender age, Mata Hari would never be content with just one man, and the military provided her with a steady supply, with focus on those in power that eventually got her recruited by a government minister to spy for France. As a Dutch national, she was free to cross borders throughout western Europe, making her espionage career shuttling between Germany, France, Belgium, and Britain easy. And this ease would later bring her career to a tragic end.
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