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Dita Von Teese (born Heather Renée
Sweet on September 28, 1972) is a popular American
burlesque artist, model and actress. Often heralded as
"the Queen of Burlesque", she has become a key
figure in the burlesque revival.
Early life: Dita Von Teese was born in Rochester,
Michigan and raised in an historic, antique filled home.
Her mother was a manicurist and her father was a
machinist.
Von Teese is well known for her fascination with 1940s
cinema and classic retro style, and this began at a
young age and was fostered by her mother, who would buy
clothes for Dita to dress up in. Her mother was a fan of
old, Golden-era Hollywood films, and it was from her
that Dita developed a fascination with the actresses of
that day, especially Betty Grable, an actress that she
frequently cites as her favorite.
She was classically trained as a ballet dancer from an
early age, and danced solo at age thirteen for a local
ballet company. Though she originally wanted to be a
ballerina, Von Teese states that "By 15 I was as
good as I’d ever be". She was later to
incorporate this element into her burlesque shows, where
she frequently goes en pointe.
At age twelve she moved from Michigan to Orange County,
California with her parents and her two sisters. Von
Teese attended University High School in Irvine.
As a teenager, Von Teese's mother took her to buy her
first bra, made from plain white cotton, and gave her a
plastic egg containing a pair of wrinkly, flesh-coloured
tights. Von Teese says she was disappointed as she had
been hoping to receive beautiful lacy garments and
stockings, of the type she had glimpsed in her father's
Playboy magazines.
This fueled her passion for lingerie.
She worked in a lingerie store as a salesgirl when she
was fifteen, and eventually as a buyer. This was where
she got her first corset. Von Teese has been fond of
wearing elaborate lingerie such as corsets and stockings
since.
In college Von Teese studied historic costuming and
aspired to work as a stylist for period films. She is a
trained costume designer.
Career: Von Teese began her career in a local
strip club when she was nineteen. Disappointed with the
lack of originality in all the other strippers' acts,
Von Teese created a vintage-inspired look, with bee-hive
hairstyle and elbow-length gloves, confusing and
fascinating the clientele.
Fetish and Glamour Modelling: It was during this
time at the strip club that she began some glamour
modelling, before she eventually became a fetish model.
Her retro pin-up look, frequently emulating Bettie Page
in photo shoots, set her apart from most other fetish
models.
Her official website, often referred to as one of the
first model sites on the internet, was created in 1992.
Since, Von Teese has maintained meticulous care to own
the copyright to the majority of her images, very aware
of what became of models, such as Bettie Page, who did
not.
Von Teese achieved some level of recognition in the
fetish world as a tightlacer. Through the wearing of a
corset for many years, she had reduced her natural
waistline to 22 inches, and can be laced down as far as
16 and a half inches. A diminutive person already, Von
Teese stands at only 5'3" and weighs 105 pounds.
Von Teese appeared on a number of fetish magazine
covers, including Bizarre and Marquis. It was around
this time when she appeared, bound and gagged, on the
cover of Midori's book:The Seductive Art of Japanese
Bondage.
Von Teese was featured in Playboy magazine in 1999, 2001
and 2002. It was her Playboy cover in December of 2002
that gave her her last name. Originally known simply as
"Dita", a tribute to silent film actress Dita
Parlo, Playboy insisted she use a last name. She picked
"Von Treese" out of the phonebook, but it was
misspelled "Von Teese". Dita, preferring the
typo, adopted it as her name. Dita says that it is her
appearances in Playboy that finally won her father's
respect for her profession.
Burlesque: It is Von Teese's burlesque routines
that she is best known for. Von Teese began performing
burlesque in 1993 and, as a proponent of New Burlesque,
has helped to popularize its revival. In her own words,
she "puts the tease back into striptease" with
long, elaborate dance shows with props and characters,
often inspired by 1930s and 1940s musicals and films.
Some of her more famous dances include a
feather fan dance, inspired by burlesque dancer Sally
Rand, and numbers involving a carousel horse, a giant
powder compact, a filigree heart and a claw-toe bathtub
with a working shower head. Her signature show features
a giant martini glass.
Her burlesque career has included some memorable
performances, including once performing at a benefit for
the New York Academy of Art wearing nothing but $5
million worth of diamonds. Additionally, Von Teese
became the first ever guest star to perform at the Crazy
Horse cabaret club in the show's history when she
appeared there in October, 2006.
Von Teese's first book which consisted of her opinions
on the history of burlesque and fetish, Burlesque and
the Art of the Teese/Fetish and the Art of the Teese,
was published in 2006 by HarperCollins. Vanity Fair
called her "a Burlesque Superheroine."
Acting: Von Teese is also an occasional actress.
In her early years she appeared in fetish-related
movies, such as Romancing Sara, Matter of Trust, in
which she is billed as Heather Sweet, and also in two
films by Andrew Blake: Pin Ups 2 and Decadence. Later,
she appeared in more mainstream features, such as the
2005 short film, The Death of Salvador Dali, written by
Delaney Bishop, which won best screenplay, best
cinematography, and best Actress for Von Teese at recent
festivals, including SXSW, Raindance Film Festival and
Mill Valley Film Festival. She is due to appear in the
upcoming feature films Saint Francis and The Boom Boom
Room, expected in 2007.
In addition to this, she has appeared in a number of
music videos, including the video for the Green Day song
"Redundant" and the video for
"mOBSCENE" by Marilyn Manson.
Fashion and Modelling: In recent years the
fashion world has come to accept Von Teese and her retro
look, and she has appeared on a number of best-dressed
lists. Von Teese frequents the front row of fashion
shows, particularly Moschino and Marc Jacobs, labels she
is often seen wearing. She has also done various catwalk
work.
During Los Angeles Fashion Week, Spring
2004, she modeled for former-club kid Richie Rich's
fashion label, Heatherette. In 2005 she appeared in the
Autumn/Winter Ready-to-Wear show for Giambattista Valli,
a former designer for Ungaro, in Paris. In the 2006
Milan Fashion Week, Von Teese was on the runway, opening
for the Moschino diffusion label, Moschino Cheap &
Chic, autumn/winter 2006/7 show.
In 2007, she appeared twice in the Jean Paul Gaultier
Haute Couture show during the Paris Fashion Week.
Additionally, she has starred in several ad campaigns.
She appeared in Vivienne Westwood's spring/summer 2005
collection adverts and became the face of Australian
clothing range Wheels and Dollbaby for their 2006/7
Spring/Summer advertising campaign. Currently, she is a
spokesmodel for MAC Cosmetics. Von Teese has appeared in
Vanity Fair, Vogue, Elle, and international issues of
nearly every fashion magazine.
In spite of this, Von Teese states that she never uses a
stylist. "The one time I hired a stylist, they
picked up a pair of my 1940s shoes and said, "These
would look really cute with jeans." I immediately
said, 'You’re out of here.'" She does her own
make-up, and dyes her naturally blonde hair black at
home.
Personal life: Von Teese currently resides in
Hollywood. She is a collector of vintage china,
particularly eggcups and tea sets, and she drives a 1939
Chrysler New Yorker and a 1965 Jaguar S-type.
Prior to her marriage, Von Teese had been romantically
linked to guitarist Mike Ness of Social Distortion and
to actor Peter Sarsgaard. She has also admitted to
having several lesbian experiences including a long-term
relationship with a woman when she was 20.
Marilyn Manson had been a long time fan, and was a
member of her website. They first met when he asked her
to dance in one of his music videos. Though she was
unable to, the two kept in contact. On Manson's 32nd
birthday, in 2001, she arrived with a bottle of
absinthe, and they became a couple.
Manson proposed on March 22, 2004 and gave her a 1930s,
7-carat, European round-cut diamond engagement ring.
On December 3, 2005, they were married, in a
non-denominational ceremony at Gurteen Castle in
Kilsheelan (County Tipperary), Ireland, the home of
their friend, Gottfried Helnwein. The wedding was
officiated by surrealist film director and comic book
writer Alejandro Jodorowsky. They reportedly exchanged
vows in front of approximately 60 guests, including
burlesque sensation Catherine D'lish, Lisa Marie
Presley, Eric Szmanda, Jessicka of Jack Off Jill and
Christian Hejnal of Scarling.
She wore a royal purple silk taffeta
gown, made by Vivienne Westwood plus a tri-corned hat
designed by Stephen Jones and matching Mr. Pearl corset.
Moschino designed an additional wardrobe for the rest of
the weekend, exclusively for Von Teese. The reception
music was provided by the retro German band "Palast
Orchester mit Max Raabe". Guests were invited to
participate in skeet shooting, archery and falconry in
the days following the wedding.
The wedding pictures appeared in the May 2006 edition of
Vogue under the heading "The Bride Wore
Purple". The couple lived in Laurel Canyon with
their four Devon Rex cats, Lily, Aleister, Edgar and
Hermann, and two dachshunds, Greta and Eva.
On December 29, 2006 Von Teese filed for divorce from
Manson citing "irreconcilable differences."
Von Teese left their house empty-handed on Christmas
Eve, and was not able to get in touch with Manson to
inform him of her intentions of divorce. In Stella
Magazine, Von Teese says 'I wasn't supportive of his
partying or his relationship with another girl.
As much as I loved him I wasn't going to
be part of that'. Von Teese also stated that she gave
Manson an ultimatum, but says 'it didn't work. Instead,
it made me the enemy.' Von Teese is not seeking spousal
support and seems to have no interest in his assets. The
news broke for the public and for Manson on his birthday
on January 5, 2007, when he was served the divorce
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