The model and burlesque performer remembers buying her first corset, partying with drag queens and a very special red lipstick
Heather Renée Sweet, better known as Dita Von Teese, is the 1950s-inspired model and performer who helped repopularise burlesque. Raised in West Branch, a working-class rural town in Michigan, she started her career as a fetish model and stripper before moving into burlesque and becoming a brand herself, launching vintage-inspired and fetishistic lingerie and makeup lines. Her tours are known for their ornate sets and costumes, a spectacle of giant champagne glasses and bronze clam shells. Aged 49, she takes her Glamonatrix tour across Europe this year.
I met the photographer for this shoot at a late-night dinner. He was a very shy art student and approached me to ask if he could take my portrait sometime. I said sure – so we met up and it turned into one of my first proper photoshoots. I did my own hair and makeup, and I remember him being a little nervous.
