Strip Teese
The clothing and style of Dita Von Teese
Burlesque star Dita Von Teese doesn't just wear clothes so that she has something to remove in her strip routine. Her impeccable attention to detail, ladylike poise and elegant style differentiate her from the crowd and accentuate her fantasy-girl persona. Her sense of style seems to flirt with art and fashion, commenting upon the relationship between the two. What is the main function of her extreme clothing? Is it simply an integral part of her stage show, which relies as much on what is taken off as what is left on?
The spell of fashion is very potent; as both a reflection of the wearer and a costume (with its own independent meaning). Dita Von Teese unapologetically bathes in this knowledge, weaving a contemporary fairytale with her style and performative lifestyle. Using clothes to indicate her personality and her brand, Von Teese is stylised and instantly recognisable both on stage and off. This reinforces the sense of fantasy evoked in her shows - she is unusual and inimitable. Von Teese shows her knowledge and mastery of style by using small details and aspects of craftsmanship to evoke an often subtle and sophisticated reaction. Her use of props is crucial and complementary to her costume; she designs props both for her shows and others' to closely reflect the performer and add a new narrative layer to the performance. This similarity between her use of props and use of costume lends an exaggerated performative element to her clothing. Bruce Oldfield remarked that 'Fashion is more usually a gentle progression of revisited ideas' and Dita Von Teese is iconic through embracing nostalgic fashions (illustrating the relationship between what is 'current' and trend cycles).
Her ladylike clothing has a significant effect on her performances. Her clothing has made her fashionable; favoured by high society/culture- despite her (stereotypically) uncultured profession and making her shows more acceptable and accessible than stripping in general. This added value and repute shows how clothing can be both a persona and a social indicator. We cannot consider that her style is pure mask as it is so complete and Von Teese has an obvious love and passion for clothing. Perhaps, then, it offers glamour in its original sense; as shield and illusion to protect and nurture the wearer.
Courted by the art community, Dita Von Teese has performed at art events, including Art Basel Miami. Her costumes almost seem made for performance art, creating character and narrative. Her work fits the expectations of performance art - to interact with the audience, use of the artists’ body and awareness of time and space. However, her show’s central, fundamental aim is to be cabaret and so is designed to entertain and titillate in a basic manner (albeit in a beautifully executed way). This creates a parallel reality which entices her fans and audiences. Von Teese understands and gently plays to these audiences, yet maintains a careful distance. This escapism is her art; an acknowledgement of post modern nostalgia and self - awareness. Marchesa Luisa Casati, the Divine Marquise, proclaimed 'I want to be a living work of art!' and this idea is central to Von Teese's shows. Offering an alternative where glamour is the norm, Dita Von Teese not only creates herself as art but makes others feel that they, too, can become, and accept, their own fantasies.
Re-enchanting in seamed stockings, stiletto heels and corsetry, Von Teese embraces femininity and all of its stereotypes, expectations and clichés. She is the collective idea of the archetypal woman- as she notes with the characters within her shows; she is the damsel in distress to the femme fatale. Von Teese acknowledges all aspects of women, from strength to weakness whilst apologising for nothing. This goes beyond feminism, demonstrating her belief that feminism is 'being as feminine as possible'. In contrast to the implications of this statement in relation to stripping, Dita Von Teese becomes the untouchable recollection of iconic women by utilising dramatic, nostalgic fashions. This style of dress is too extreme to be accessible to most contemporary women due to changing lifestyles for example tiny corseted waists (Dita’s is 16.5 inches). The extreme proportions and high-maintenance, glamorous finish of her image can be unusual and shocking. Accessories like full length gloves, veils and high stiletto heels- embrace Christian Lacroix’s belief that 'Haute Couture should be fun, foolish and almost unwearable'.
The bedrock of Dita Von Teese's work is to remind us of the suggestive power of dress. Von Teese’s clothes produce fantasy and add aspects of performance art to what is, essentially, established cabaret. From pinup model to the burlesque (the inventor of the catwalk), Von Teese uses fashion as prop and persona for both her shows and her everyday life; transforming herself from a shy, humdrum girl to an iconic woman. Her clothing creates continuity through her private and working lives, indicating a controversial pride in her work, yet differentiating her and developing the fantasy girl persona. She appears to enact her own fantasy as well as her audience's - her gleeful rapport with her audience shows that, high or low culture aside, Dita von Teese is a symbol for pleasure.