Diary of Marie Bashkirtseff
CZENUKFR

Tuesday, 25 March 1879

The Basilewskys dine at our home, but Madame Gavini arrived like a bombshell at four o'clock, swept up my aunt, and rushed to the studio to tell me I absolutely must come — it is the Tuesday subscription night, the cream of Parisian society, and fortunately Madame Bianchi is ill and has sent her box at the Comédie-Française. In short, I dined with our Russians and then presented myself at the aforementioned invitation. No doubt I was seen, but I saw no one; I was tired, and my black dress — though it showed the neck quite nicely, front and back — made me look sleepy.
And yet the décolletage is effective — cut open... equally in front and behind; slightly more in front, but very little even so. A pointed bodice, short sleeves, and gloves meeting the sleeves. Gambetta has his box on Tuesdays; I had a mind to see his secretary — but I was so drowsy I saw nothing, except Madame de Pourtalès, who was not far away, and who — though she looks her forty-five years — is miraculously beautiful, slender and graceful. Without opera glasses one would take her for twenty-five.