Rentafoil by Émile Zola. Short summary

5 seconds

Inventive Parisian entrepreneur Durando creates a new business — ugliness for hire. He offers ladies ugly companions to emphasize the attractiveness of his clients.

1 minute

In Paris, where everything is bought and sold, the dodgy businessman Durando offers ugliness for sale.
For 5 francs an hour, ladies can hire an ugly companion to look attractive against her background. This stratagem makes even ladies with mediocre looks look beautiful. Ugly beautifies Durando’s clients better than any cosmetics.

At first, Durando has difficulties. Not a single woman responds to an ad inviting ugly women to work. The entrepreneur changes tactics — he sends recruiters around town. They look out for ugly girls and offer to earn money.

There is an important condition — the applicant’s face must be ugly and dull, with no signs of intelligence. Otherwise, according to Durando, a woman can still arouse some feelings in men.