11 hours ago
Dita Von Teese: ‘I stand by all my looks – even those on the worst-dressed lists'
Born Heather Sweet in Michigan in 1972, Dita Von Teese was a classically trained teenage ballet dancer before she started working in her late teenage years as a fetish model and a dancer in a Los Angeles strip club, where she developed her distinctive old-school Hollywood glamour burlesque style. Her elaborate shows have incorporated giant Martini and champagne glasses, lipstick-shaped bucking broncos, and performing wearing nothing but $5 million (£3.7 million) worth of diamonds. She was married to the goth rocker Marilyn Manson between 2005 and 2007, and currently lives in LA with her partner, designer Adam Rajcevich.
Best childhood memory?
Having grown up in Michigan, I have vivid memories of the four seasons: the snow in the wintertime and ice-skating down my sidewalk; the autumn leaves and raking up piles of leaves and then jumping in them, or covering myself in them; and then the lilac trees in bloom in the spring. I love remembering the contrasts between the seasons, and contrast in fragrances that came from living in a place like Michigan.
Best day of your life?
Every time I'm on stage, it's the best day of my life, especially when it's a perfect show – which doesn't happen that often. A show where you feel like you didn't put a foot wrong, like when a gymnast does a backflip and lands it: boom. Probably the best show I ever did – the one that left me feeling the most energised – was the first show back after the pandemic at the London Palladium. It was a rescheduled show and was one of the first shows to open after lockdown; people had bought tickets years before, so they were desperate to see me, even though most of them were still in masks, and by the end of the performance, which was electrifying and incredibly emotional, many of them had tears streaming down their faces. It was so intense.
Best celebrity encounter you've ever had?
There have been a few. Meeting one of the last-living musical legends of the Hollywood golden age, Leslie Caron, at the London Palladium was pretty amazing, as was meeting Joan Collins, who has been down to see the show a couple of times. Harry Styles has been to two, and Jon Hamm. And before she shot her movie The Last Showgirl, Pamela Anderson came down with loads of people from the cast to do some research, so it was cool to hang out with her.
Best item of celebrity memorabilia you've collected?
I have a massive collection. I have Cyd Charisse's ballet shoes; Betty Grable's corset from a movie; Gypsy Rose Lee's most famous performance gown; the outfit Natalie Wood wore when she played Gypsy Rose Lee in Gypsy; and loads of things that Mae West owned. I love buying things that once belonged to my idols and I love displaying them for the rest of the world to see, so many of them are loaned out to museums.
Best outfit you've ever worn?
I used to wear a lot of Jean Paul Gaultier pieces because I had carte blanche with the archives of the haute couture range. My favourite was a black velvet dress from his hussar collection, with a beautiful military-style peach braiding, and this trimmed mink cape thrown over the shoulders. I've worn it on the red carpet many times; I love wearing outfits more than once.
Best personality trait?
I don't do it on purpose, but I'm a huge connector of people. I'm a social person and I love bringing people together and they often end up becoming lifelong friends. So many of my friends have found their best friend through me and when I'm building a group of people for a show like my Vegas one or like the forthcoming Diamonds and Dust in London, people end up spending most of their free time together and becoming very close. I feel proud that I'm able to facilitate that.
Best decision you've ever made?
Deciding not to become an actress. I was performing in a show with the Pussycat Dolls before they were a music group; I was the guest star doing my Martini glass, and I was also on the cover of Playboy around then, and an agent said to me, 'It's time we got you acting,' and I was like, 'No. I didn't do all of this as a stepping stone to another career. I did all of this to be the world's greatest burlesque star.' They were like, 'Take acting lessons, let's send you out for auditions,' and I just said, 'No. I like what I'm doing. I'm not trying to be more famous. I believe in burlesque.'
Worst childhood memory?
My parents getting divorced in my early teens. Nobody wants to hear their parents fighting, and my parents were so young when they got married, like 19 years old. When I look back now, I can see how young they were and how hard it must have been for them. I remember witnessing them fighting with each other, then separating, then eventually divorcing. It was a tumultuous time. A lot of kids have to endure divorce and remember that difficult experience of feeling like we have to pick one parent over the other. I still see both of them and it's a little complicated – they still don't want to hang out in the same room as each other – so there's always a little division.
Worst moment of your life so far?
My parents are still living, and my siblings are still alive, but the day I lost my cat, a Devon Rex, my feline soulmate, Aleister Von Teese, in May 2020 at the start of the pandemic, was so traumatic. He had his own Instagram page with a big following and travelled all over the world with me, then one day I got woken up at 4am and told he was sick in the hospital and wasn't going to make it through the night. I jumped in the car, then on the way to hospital, two people tried to carjack me. They had guns – they may have been finger guns – under their sweatshirts, but I managed to get away and get to hospital and then he died in my arms. That was a horrid, hard day.
Worst mistake you've ever made?
I'm a pretty positive person, so even when I've made mistakes, I feel like I've learnt lessons from them. Like, even though I may have made a bad choice, something good came out of it. Like the time I employed this dancer on a show of mine and I thought she was going to become my protégée and she turned out to be a really bad seed, a dangerous psychotic one, even. I'd taken her on potentially to build her up and fill my shoes and it turned into a disaster with her being a little bit psycho.
Worst outfit you've ever worn?
I pretty much stand by all my looks. I think you can't please all of the people all of the time, and there have been so many occasions where the same outfit I've been wearing has found its way on to the worst-dressed list in a US supermarket tabloid while also being on the best-dressed list in French Vogue.
Worst personality trait?
I'm very indecisive. I will put off a decision until the last minute until somebody tries to make it for me. Then I'm like, 'OK, fine, I'll choose.' If I can't figure out the right decision, I'll keep everybody waiting and procrastinate indefinitely, which can make things tricky.
