Editing Striptease (section)

===French tradition===
[[File:Mata Hari 15.jpg|thumb|[[Mata Hari]]. The most celebrated segment of her stage act was the progressive shedding of her clothing until she wore just a jeweled [[bra]] and some ornaments over her arms and head.]]
In the 1880s and 1890s, [[Paris]]ian shows such as the [[Moulin Rouge]] and [[Folies Bergère]] were featuring attractive scantily clad women dancing and ''[[Tableau vivant|tableaux vivants]]''. In this environment, an act in the 1890s featured a woman who slowly removed her clothes in a vain search for a [[flea]] crawling on her body. ''[[The People's Almanac]]'' credits the act as the origin of modern striptease.

In 1905, the notorious Dutch dancer [[Mata Hari]], later shot as a spy by the French authorities during World War I, was an overnight success from the debut of her act at the [[Musée Guimet]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/spies/hari/5.html|website=www.crimelibrary.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150210044610/http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/spies/hari/5.html|archive-date=10 February 2015|title=Mata Hari is Born|author=Denise Noe|access-date=2 August 2017}}</ref> The most celebrated segment of her act was her progressive shedding of clothing until she wore just a jeweled [[bra]] and some ornaments over her arms and head but exposing her pubic region.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldofbiography.com/9241-Mata%20Hari/life6.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101129025342/http://www.worldofbiography.com/9241-Mata%20Hari/life6.htm|archive-date=29 November 2010|title=Mata Hari: The Solitary Life & The Enchantress|website=World of Biography}}</ref> Another landmark performance was the appearance at the Moulin Rouge in 1907 of an actress called Germaine Aymos, who entered dressed only in three very small shells. In the 1920s and 1930s, [[Josephine Baker]] danced topless in the ''danse sauvage'' at the Folies, and other such performances were provided at the [[Bal Tabarin (Paris)|Tabarin]]. These shows were notable for their sophisticated choreography and often featuring the women in glitzy sequins and feathers. In his 1957 book ''[[Mythologies (book)|Mythologies]]'', [[semiotics|semiotician]] [[Roland Barthes]] interpreted this Parisian striptease as a "mystifying spectacle", a "reassuring ritual" where "evil is advertised the better to impede and exorcise it".<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/19970728155604/http://xroads.virginia.edu/~DRBR/strip.html Striptease], in ''Mythologies'' by Roland Barthes, translated by Annette Lavers. Hill and Wang, bar New York, 1984</ref> By the 1960s "fully nude" shows were provided at such places as [[Crazy Horse (cabaret)|Le Crazy Horse Saloon]].<ref>Richard Wortley (1976) ''A Pictorial History of Striptease'': 29-53</ref>
[[File:BrunetteStagFilm.ogv|thumb|A video of a woman gradually undressing herself]]