Louella was a prostitute in the bordello run by Togo's mother in NYC and later in Paris.  When his mother was murdered, Louella helped to raise the young Togo by making sure his artistic talent would not be wasted. She invited many men who were influential in the Art world, as well as, artists themselves to come to see Togo's portraits of the women who worked at the house. Also, she took the reins of running the business for many years thereafter.  Togo considered Louella a surrogate mother and, in her later years, when she was dying from leukemia, he took care of her until her death in 1997.  

Early on in her life, Louella also worked as a stripper at the famous Crazy Horse Cabaret in Paris which is where he imagined this scene to take place. It was in homage, not only to Louella, but, to his idols Degas and Toulouse Lautrec.