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. Von Teese has been a special guest at the Parisian venue Crazy Horse several times. From to , she was a global ambassador for Cointreau and in — she was the face of Perrier.
She has also created four perfumes under the brand Dita Von Teese Perfumes. Von Teese was born in West Branch, Michigan , [ 6 ] the second of three daughters. 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. 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. The family relocated from Michigan to Orange County, California , when her father's job moved.
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. 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.
