Dita Von Teese

Von Teese has been seen in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, RuPaul's Drag Race, The Masked Dancer, The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell, among other television productions. She is also known for her short marriage to singer Marilyn Manson as well as performing in his music videos. Von Teese has released two books on burlesque history, fetishism and beauty. She has also recorded songs with French musician Sébastien Tellier. She has toured the world with her burlesque shows in cities like London, Berlin, New York and Paris. Among her special guests on the tours are Dirty Martini, Perle Noire, Ginger Valentine, Jett Adore and Playboy model Gia Genevieve. Von Teese has been a special guest at the Parisian venue Crazy Horse several times. Her 2016 show resulted in a DVD release. From 2006 to 2008, Von Teese was a Viva Glam spokesperson for MAC Cosmetics to raise money for HIV/AIDS research. From 2007 to 2013, she was a global ambassador for Cointreau and in 2010–2011 she was the face of Perrier. She has also created four perfumes under the brand Dita Von Teese Perfumes. She also has her own brand of lingerie, as well as stockings under the name Secrets in Lace and luxurious cardigans for Australian online store Wheels & Dollbaby.

Early life[edit]

Von Teese was born in West Branch, Michigan,^[6] the second of three daughters.^[7] When describing her hometown, she says, "It's a universe away from the colored Klieg lights of Hollywood and Paris. But on weekend afternoons, my mom and I had a front seat on a rocket ship to those faraway worlds by way of the old movies starring the most glamorous creatures – Betty Grable, Mae West, Carmen Miranda, Marlene Dietrich... They were our muses."^[8] Her father was a machinist and her mother a manicurist.^[7][9] She is of English, Scottish, Armenian, and German heritage.^[10] Von Teese has stated that one of her grandmothers was half-Armenian and adopted into an Anglo-Saxon American family.^[11] Von Teese is known for her fascination with 1940s cinema and classic vintage style. This began at a young age and was fostered by her mother, who would buy clothes for her daughter to dress up. Her mother was a fan of old, Golden Age-era Hollywood films, and from her, Von Teese developed a fascination with the actresses of that day, especially Betty Grable.


She was classically trained as a ballet dancer from an early age, and danced solo at age 13 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."^[9] She was later to incorporate this element into her burlesque shows, where she frequently goes en pointe. The family relocated from Michigan to Orange County, California, when her father's job moved.^[7] Von Teese attended University High School in Irvine, California.^[12]


When Von Teese was a teenager, her 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-colored pantyhose.^[12] 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 15, eventually as a buyer. Von Teese has been fond of wearing elaborate lingerie such as corsets and basques with fully fashioned stockings ever since. In college, Von Teese studied historic costuming and aspired to work as a stylist for films. She is a trained costume designer, often designing (and copyrighting) her photo shoots herself.^[13]


At 18, Von Teese had her famous beauty mark tattooed on her left cheek.^[14] In her first book, she states that she visited a strip club for the first time at age 19 and was soon hired alongside her job at a beauty counter. She was stunned by the other strippers' lack of originality and wanted to incorporate vintage and fetish style to her performance.