ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author's reads of the clothes and fabrics bought and sold in Au Bonheur des Dames reveals that the Zolian department store is, like the boutiques of Sidonie and Gervaise, the site of illicit eroticism. She suggests this erotic investment in the combination of fabric and flesh represents, within the Zolian text, a Decadent challenge to the procreative sexuality necessary to Emile Zola's Naturalism. The role of 'Grand Séducteur' adopted by Octave Mouret has been read as evidence of the patriarchal structures in operation within the department store. Mouret is not the only figure in Au Bonheur des Dames who exhibits both a fascination with female clothing and a set of strikingly feminine characteristics. The commodification of the female body is a necessary part of the financial success of the department store. The women's attraction to and seduction by the fabrics on display simultaneously suggests the potential for homoerotic desire.
