Dita Von Teese is one of the most glamorous people of all time. Such a notion typically heralds her arrival for live burlesque performances; talk show interviews given; appearances in every sort of fashion, lifestyle, and smutty magazine; and even as hostess for parties sponsored by one or another spirit or liqueur for which she is ambassador (her latest is the perfume-y perfection that is Sweet Gwendoline French Gin). Since the 1990s, she has refined a formula of dark, wavy tresses, cat eye liquid eyeliner, iconic deep red lipstick, varnished talons, pale complexion, ample décolletage, trained and corseted waist, and a fashion sense that works from vintage pieces as starting places including gloves, millinery, costume jewelry, and highest of high end lingerie including her own line of specialized pieces. These composited elements produce a fantasy that for Ms. Von Teese and her admirers is very real, and this is part of her power: like the most alluring sorceress, her glamour produces a vision of womanhood that toys with projected ideals while all the while troubling the distinction between artifice and ‘real life.’ Dita Von Teese holds court over a fan base who accepts the artificial as a more compelling truth for how to live well and closer to one’s own dreams and yearnings.

Following two occasions to see Dita live in the past year, first in Chicago (ON Valentine’s Day) and then in December at her residency at the Jubilee Theatre in the Horseshoe Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas, the performing artist politely agreed to join our other participants in RUSCHWOMAN’s ‘Curiosity Only Strengthened the Cat’ Questionnaire Interview series. Those evenings of burlesque she stages are magical and transformative, with numbers by Ms. Von Teese interspersed with an all star cast of other performers on the rise—with as much diversity in terms of talents, gender expressions, races, and ages as one could hope for. Those are nights drenched in Swarovski crystals on most everything, including the giant “bull ride” lipstick tube on which Teese writhes for one routine.





We’re overjoyed and humbled for her to share her thoughts in relation to a selection of the standard questions. We’re lucky on timing, as Dita was able to respond to our questionnaire amidst a flurry of newly added residency dates, new lingerie collections being released, and a trio of brand new perfumes—the first she’s developed since the softly smokey, aromatic rose and wood scent Scandalwood, a collaboration with Heretic Parfums. (Further discussion of these new fragrances can be reached here.) Her personal approach to beauty and world building continues to also take the form of finely embroidered cardigans made with Wheels and Dollbaby; fascinators, scarves, and hats designed in collaboration with Hood London; costume jewelry sets; flower vases; manicure kits; Savoir Faire lace trimmed masks during earlier masked days of the pandemic; Toile de Jouy inspired pillowcases; multiple gorgeously illustrated tomes that are a blend of memoir, beauty tips, and look book; even authenticated stockings that have been worn by Dita (RUSCHWOMAN blushes in admission to owning one of these).

And all the while, she shows up in the thick of these overlapping demands wearing some of the most beautiful clothes and perfumes on the planet. Hats (often Stephen Jones, a recent exhibitor at RUSCHWOMAN), heels (often bespoke creations by her pal Christian Louboutin), corsets (by esoteric legend Mister Pearl) and scented by one of her fragrances or several special blends she’s known to love from the psychopoetic offerings of Paris-based Serge Lutens.





One of the most important things to know about Dita Von Teese is that she is an unconventional beauty. People regularly make the mistake that because her aesthetic issues from a highly researched probe into simultaneous histories of performance, sex, gender, and beauty, she must represent a throwback nostalgia for MAGA infused simpler times. Nothing could be further from the case: the high femme artifice with which she has constructed herself is a much more complicated fantasy—and specifically one oriented toward a future in which sex is treated less shamefully in society, in which women feel better about themselves and more empowered, in which each individual feels drawn toward their personal tastes for glamour. In fact, Dita stands with the freaks and kinksters, the queers, the extraordinary, and those obsessed with aspects of beauty and the tricky fashioning of a self.

Whether decorating her maximalist yet sensitively curated home in Los Angeles; dreaming up new routines, costumes, and collaborations; or showing up on runways like a recent Moschino, or film as in the recent motion picture Don’t Worry Darling, a commercial for new Pepsi x GCDS collaborations, or in Taylor Swift’s Bejeweled music video, Dita’s star continues to rise, and we love to see it. We’re awestruck by her beauty, her soft spoken intelligence, her cats, and, for all of the heightened facades of her medium, her modest lack of pretense.

(All of the images accompanying this interview are linked back to their posts on Ms. Von Teese’s Instagram @ditavonteese)







What are your beauty secrets?

No tanning, no smoking, sleeping on my back.






What is your greatest extravagance?

My stage costumes.



What is your most treasured possession?

My pets.






Do you keep a diary?

At certain times in my life.



What or who is the greatest love of your life?

My work and my pets.






When and where were you happiest?

Onstage. Most recently, the first shows after the pandemic.



What was your first job?

Working in a lingerie store.



Which living person do you most admire?

People who work in animal rescue.



If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?

It might be lovely to come back as a loved and pampered pet.






What do you consider the most overrated virtue?

Chastity, I suppose.



Do you cook? If no, how do you feed yourself? If yes, do you have a signature recipe?

I do cook.
My signature recipe is a vegetable saffron absinthe pot pie with a fancy crust.



What did you have for breakfast?

Chia seed pudding I made the night before.



How do you usually sleep?

On my back, pinned down with cats.



What questions are you asking yourself?

“What am I overlooking that’s important?”



Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

Lately it’s something like: “Not (the) ______.” Used in a sentence: “Oh dear, not the Crocs with charms on them.”



Which talent would you most like to have?

I wish I could learn faster.






What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Bringing burlesque back into the spotlight, inspiring others.



Describe your work space. What qualities do you need in your environment to do what you do?

I don’t have a typical workspace. It’s ever changing. But when I’m doing things like email, I work from my living room, standing desk, or my dining room table. I’d like to change my environment around the house.






Describe your dream date.

A perfect second or third date with someone wonderful, with the excitement of newness!



Where would you most like to live?

In a beautiful old house with lots of history, surrounded by nature, and animals.






Which living person do you most despise?

Anyone who abuses animals or children.



What do you most value in your friends?

Authenticity, with a strong sense of their own self.



What do you most enjoy wearing?

The perfect silhouetted black dress paired with seamed stockings and black leather opera gloves.



Who are your favorite writers?

I prefer autobiography.



Do you have a favorite film?

I like parts of countless 1940s technicolor films.



Is there an album or piece of music you listen to the most?

The song Moon River, Henry Mancini.



What are you reading right now?

Marlene Dietrich by Maria Riva (her daughter)






Which historical figure do you most identify with?

Mae West.



Is there anything you regret not doing?

No.



Favorite drink?

Water!






Favorite smell?

My garden roses, fresh lilacs.



Favorite color?

Texture and context matter when it comes to color. But I do love peacock blue, and shades of green.






Favorite time of day?

Each stage of the day has its own magic, but I especially enjoy the morning after a good nights sleep.



Where do you dance?

Onstage or amongst friends.






Do you have anything going on or coming up you want to plug?

Some forthcoming Travel.



Where can people find you? Website address? Instagram handle?

@ditavonteese Ditavonteeselingerie.com Patreon Dita Las Vegas