The Collar

Question: Does an odalisque wear a collar to indicate that she is a slave?

Not necessarily. People commonly use collars in Master/slave play, but the collar is not a requirement in Code d' Odalisque. Instead, the slave is kept naked and her nakedness is a symbol of her servitude, her nakedness is her leash. Code d' Ode is different than other styles of Master/slave play in this regard. The collar is for a newly captured low slave. It is a symbol of the memlook. But an odalisque is a special slave with a high status and is usually free of a collar.

Since it is most improper - indeed insulting - to treat an odalisque like a memlook, some consider it an affront to put a collar on an odalisque. Usually, if a memlook is elevated to the higher status of odalisque she will have her collar removed. But she will be held in captivity (occlusion) and she will be (essentially) naked. Since beauty and sex are now her "work", she no longer needs the clothes that protect the worker, the maid or the cook. An odalisque's nakedness is her leash - and her collar.

Others like to use a collar as a symbol of slavery. Some find it aesthetic as well as psychologically effective.

In Code d' Odalisque it is the nape of the neck, the back of the neck, that is important. It is a gesture of submission for the slave to offer her Master the nape of her neck.

Otherwise, an odalisque may wear a (discreet) collar when she is on sojourn but not when she is in occlusion. In that case, the collar serves as a reminder to her that even though she goes about like a freewoman when she is on sojourn, she remains a slave.

On the whole, the collar is not central or important to Code d' Odalisque. It is not usually a part of odalisque slavery. It is more a feature of other styles of slave play.