DITA VON TEESE TELLS THE WORLD SHE LOVES HATS

If you’ve never heard of Von Teese you’re not alone (I didn’t either), but she is the former wife of Marilyn Manson. Von Teese was interviewed last week by the New York Times. In the article called Show Stoppers, the Goddess of burlesque spoke about her most valuable possessions, and guess what - they turned out to be Hats.

The interview went like this:

Collections: I collect in a crazy way. I have at least 15 collections. I collect vintage hair combs; vintage clothes; vintage lingerie; hats; jewelry; cigarette holders.

Favorite collection: My hats. When I look at them I can’t believe these are things that women wore on the street every day. They are dramatic and distinctive.

Treasured eras: For taxidermy, Victorian; for furniture, Art Deco; for lingerie, 1940s stockings and Victorian corsets; hats I like mid-1940s, when they wore the little tilted hats, like men’s hats.

When asked about her career, Von Teese had this to say: The Biggest misconception about burlesque is that it is about dancing around in hot pants with feather boas. Burlesque was about the striptease. The stars of burlesque took their clothes off, end of story, period.

Hardest thing about stripping: To make it look effortless and natural.

With the Spitzer ordeal looming large in NYC, it seems the media can’t get enough about this risqué underground culture. Just last week there was a two-hour special by Diane Sawyer about legalized prostitution. And now the New York Times is featuring strippers in the Style Section. Where is the Moral Majority (probably busy with stem cell protest).

You would think that with a new governor in place this fascination with illicit sex would end, but don’t count on it! On day 2 the new New York Governor (Paterson) admitted to cheating on his wife and taking drugs. And the best part, his wife cheated too.

So, the moral of this story (if there is morality anymore) is that love and sex may not be so exclusive. And the best part – the French knew that all along.