IN CONVERSATION WITH DITA VON TEESE
interview by JANA LETONJA
Known as the queen of burlesque, DITA VON TEESE made history with her unrivalled artistry and flair. Now, as a performer, creative director, choreographer and producer, VON TEESE is still playing to sold-out venues worldwide. As a style icon, VON TEESE is a muse to some of the greatest couturiers and designers. This September, she returned to Las Vegas with a new residency at VOLTAIRE in THE VENETIAN RESORT, which will run through November.
dress ELSA SCHIAPARELLI
earrings ANABELA CHAN
How did burlesque become your passion, and how did this art form attract you in the first place?
It’s rooted in my childhood, loving classic films and loving glamour. I grew up watching old movies because my mother likes them, and I grew up thinking ‘I’m going to be like one of those ladies on the screen, like Hedy Lamarr or Betty Grable.’ When I got older, I found ways I could do that myself. I grew up in the ’80s and early ’90s, the age of supermodels like Cindy Crawford and the Sports Illustrated swimsuit models, and I didn’t have any modern role models of glamour. So, I looked to the past and I started wearing vintage clothes because I couldn’t afford modern, fancy designer clothes. I started dressing in vintage and then taking pinup photos, which then turned into a burlesque career. My love of vintage and vintage glamour has made me branch out into several different things I was doing for fun, which turned into a big show in Las Vegas.
How do you approach the creation of your new shows? Where do you find inspiration to make them different from your past ones?
I have a whole arsenal of acts that I’ve created over the past 25 years, so a lot of [the show] is taking from those things and deciding how to make them bigger, [or] putting different performers in my signature acts and seeing how their abilities evolve. With this show, it’s some of the best things that I’ve done and my favourite things to do. I’m debuting a new number here, which is a hybrid of a few things I did in the past, but with a whole new level of decadence.
It’s not really hard to come up with the material to put in the show because I’m very inspired. For me, burlesque is fun. It’s fun to create ‘stripscapes,’ as I call them, that have nothing to do with classic burlesque except the flavour and the nature of it - being inspired by something that is not a strip tease and creating a strip tease. I get inspiration from everywhere. I think the artist’s part isn’t getting inspiration, it’s how to create the puzzle of putting a show together so that I have time to put on these extravagant outfits while there are other acts on stage.
coat TOM FORD
earrings HOUSE OF EMMANUELE
bespoke showgirl look by MICHAEL SCHMIDT STUDIOS using SWAROVSKI CRYSTALS
This September, you began your new residency in Las Vegas. Tell us more about this show, besides what we already mentioned. What makes it unique?
There are a few things that make it really unique. Besides featuring my signature acts taken to the highest level with a full cast of dancers, we also have the most beautiful showgirl costumes that were designed by BOB MACKIE and are kindly provided to us thanks to CAESAR’S ENTERTAINMENT. We have these costumes that are lavish and extravagant, and they’re the last beautiful showgirl costumes that were made when the costume budgets were like the equivalent of $12 million. These were made in the late ’70s when all of the biggest budgets in show business went into these kinds of costumes, so we are very lucky.
There’s a curated selection that I’ve personally chosen that will appear on this stage, and you won’t see anything like that anywhere else in the world. The only place that you could see a little flavour of the showgirl is maybe at MOULIN ROUGE for certain moments, but these costumes are incredible and there’s genuinely nothing like it in the whole world. It’s a reason to come to Las Vegas if you’re looking for that classic Las Vegas experience along with super high fashion.
I also have all custom LOUBOUTIN shoes and boots in this show that are only made for me and are unlike anything you’ll see anywhere else. I have costumes by JENNY PACKHAM, with incredible amounts of genuine SWAROVSKI crystals. So, if you’re into style and fashion along with the sensuality of strip tease from all genders, this is a great show for you to see in Las Vegas. There’s nothing else like it.
full look DOLCE & GABBANA
Out of all your signature acts, like the famous Martini Glass, Bird of Paradise or The Black Swan, which one is your favourite, and why?
It’s hard to name a favourite, but I love doing the glass. The way that we have it on stage, we have five of my martini and champagne glasses on stage at once, and the costume is a real showcase of blinding, sparkling SWAROVSKI crystal. I love doing this number because I know it’s what people are waiting to see, and so I enjoy that. To me, it’s the moment where I can totally be free and let loose. It’s the most fun moment for me.
As you mentioned, you were always fascinated by ’40s cinema and classic vintage style. How do you find today’s modern fashion perfectly complementing your signature style?
I obviously follow fashion to a degree, and I think there are moments when it ebbs and flows and designers are making things that I love. But I’m true to my signature style and I love to buy beautiful pieces that I know I can wear my whole life, so I’ve become a much savvier shopper. Instead of just consuming new fashion all the time, I’m obviously a big vintage collector too. When I do buy new pieces, it’s because I love them. I find I’m still wearing things from 20 years ago, like beautiful JOHN GALLIANO for DIOR. It makes me feel good when I can wear something that is forever. I really look for designers who are doing things that are part of my signature code of dressing.
fur ALEXANDER WANG
shorts RETROFIT
tights WOLFORD
shoes LOUBOUTIN
Throughout the years, you’ve become a style icon and muse to some of the greatest designers of our time. What makes you connect the most with a fashion brand, and what contributed to the success of your longest fashion partnerships over the years?
The first thing that comes to mind are the designers who have made things for the show. I work with JENNY PACKHAM a lot because she knows how to do beautiful, beaded, extravagant gowns. I love working with her. She’s made quite a few things for the show and for me on the red carpet. I’ve also worked with ELIE SABB and ZUHAIR MURAD a lot. These are designers who really love glitz and the bead work. And obviously CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN, who’s been a friend of mine for the last 20 years. We have a lot of fun coming up with outrageous footwear for my shows. Of all the people he designs shoes for, the wildest things he’s ever done are for me. We enjoy it and we know each other so well. I’ll bring him a handful of rhinestones and a feather and say, ‘It’s going to be something like this. What can we do?’ so we have a lot of fun and there’s a lot of heart and soul put into that.
shoes CASADEI
dress ALBERTA FERRETTI
earrings and cuff 8 OTHER REASONS
gloves ATELIER BISER
ring ON AURA TOUT VU
Your costumes are known to be sparkly. How do you choose them, and what does the design process look like in collaboration with the designers?
It’s very particular and there’s almost always a bit of a learning curve – I explain how the hooks work, how things have to come off, like a nice beautiful fitted jacket, but there has to be a zip and I have to make a thing out of the zip. We can’t just hide it, so everything has to be carefully designed. It’s a puzzle piece, especially if a gown is made with one person and the corset is made with another, and the stockings and the lingerie, everything kind of has to come together in a perfect fit. I’m extremely hands-on because there’s never that moment of opening a box and everything is just perfect. There are so many details and a lot of time goes into it.
Also, CATHERINE DENEUVE, who makes the big creations with dripping SWAROVSKI crystals, is a performer too – so everything I’m doing, she’s done herself. We’re like best friends, it’s easy for us [to collaborate] and she makes these amazing things for me. Every costume has its own things that are going to be the boss of, and it’s up to me to learn how to navigate those things. The things that make it complicated are the things that make it interesting in the end. And when I get a new costume, there are always a bunch of challenges to the strip tease part of it, or even just the way I move on the stage with it, but that’s part of the fun.
You are also a New York Times bestselling author and have your fourth book, FASHIONING THE FEMME TOTALE: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO GLAMONATRIX STYLE, coming out soon. What can the readers expect from this one, and why is it a must read for every woman?
Well, it’s not coming out so soon. We’re still doing all of the final edits, and then we have to go into layout, so it probably won’t come out until next year. My other books – [the first] one was called BURLESQUE AND THE ART OF THE TEESE: FETISH AND THE ART OF THE TEASE, and the second one was called YOUR BEAUTY MARK: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ECCENTRIC BEAUTY – were about make-up and hair and glamour. So, this one is about what I love about the history of fashion and how I like to wear it, how I adapt vintage for modern lifestyle. It’s basically the follow-up to YOUR BEAUTY MARK and the same kind of format. I think there’s no book like it about glam and vintage style, how to care for vintage, how to wear it, how to find it, and the best ways of modernising it.
left
dress LAQUAN SMITH
headpiece Vintage BOB MAKIE from JUBILEE COSTUME ARCHIVE courtesy of CAESARS ENTERTAINMENT
right
dress and shoes MARC JACOBS
earrings ANABELA CHAN
Besides burlesque, being a style icon and an author, you are also an advocate for LGBTQ rights, cancer, and feminist causes. Why are these causes so dear to you, and what is your view on the issues surrounding them today?
I was working for the Mac AIDS Fund for many years and at amfAR, and that was really eye-opening work to understand why the fight against AIDS historically was so complicated and why no one was doing anything. I think now that there’s an end in sight with the AIDS crisis, it’s more about people’s rights, especially in our country where we’re watching rights be stripped away. But they were always connected. It’s important for everyone to still be vocal about it and to vote the right way.
After the residency at VOLTAIRE at THE VENETIAN, what is coming up next? What can you share with us about your upcoming plans and projects?
I have some new perfumes out, which are available mostly in Europe, but I’m working on some more. I had a trio come out recently in addition to my original SCANDALWOOD perfume. And I’m also working on another show, which will debut in London’s West End later next year, so I’m excited for that as well.
earrings BADGLEY MISCHKA
Do you have any shows planned for Europe, besides the West End in London?
I would like to do another tour. And that takes a long time to plan, so probably at the end of 2025 or early 2026. I’m just putting my thinking cap on about that. I do often miss the big theatres of like 3,000 or 4,000 people. And that’s the fun part about touring, when you go to these bigger theatres where people have been waiting to see you in their country. I do enjoy that.
Just to add something about the perfumes – what is the most important thing to you when you are putting together a new scent?
I like things that feel unusual and special, and don’t smell like everyone else. They have to have something that’s a little bit of an edge or evokes a feeling, and is not like your average perfume. I’ll never have a fragrance that is one of these universally popular fragrances. I’m always thinking what can we do? I started making niche perfumes 18 years ago, and fighting against the typical clean fragrances or the things that smell like flower bombs. I want to have things that have an edge, that remind you a bit of the past because the past for perfume was quite racy and people don’t realise that you had these kinds of fragrances that would envelop you or entice you, and had addictive qualities and animalistic qualities, erotic qualities. I want to make small bottles of perfume that are for people who are interested in going deeper.
dress and gloves RODARTE
earrings ANABELA CHAN
TEAM CREDITS:
talent DITA VON TEESE
photography CHARLIE DENIS
styling LUCA FALCIONI AT OPUS BEAUTY
producer JORGE ROSELL
production WE MADE IT
hair JAKE GALLAGHER
styling assistant TANNER BLAKE JACKSON
lighting direction DAVID LOPEZ OSUNA
location VOLTAIRE
editor TIMI LETONJA
interview JANA LETONJA
cover design ARTHUR ROELOFFZEN
