Dita Von Teese

By Sara Templeton

Despite her Germanic sounding name, Dita Von Teese is actually a red-blooded American.

Named Heather Sweet by her parents, Dita was born on the 28th of September, 1972, in a small Michigan town called Rochester.

Today however, she is often called the 'ultimate retro pin-up girl', with her 1940s burlesque style a refreshing change in an industry swamped by 'clone' models.

Dita Von Teese is more than just a model though - she's always been a performer and continues to do so today, and it's this love of performing that motivated her (and her parents) to enrol in dancing lessons when she knee-high to a grasshopper.

One of Dita's most influential inspirations were the old Technicolor MGM shows, where the stars would often answer a simple 'yes/no' question by breaking into to song, complete with huge entourages of dancers.

Old man: "Do you have the time my dear?"

Pretty Woman: "The time, the time, universes in twine! But where on earth is my cab-sav wine?" and on they go.

As time wore on, Dita's love for the Golden Age of Hollywood grew, and at 16 years old her love of entertainment branched into fashion as well. It is said that after getting a job at a lingerie retailer, Dita discovered a whole new world of sexy undergarments, and to this day her fascination with such attire is still strong.

Before long, Dita started to model and came to grips with the fashion world - and what seemed to be a negative response to her somewhat risque old world image.

As such, when her modeling contract was over, she did what made her happy, which involved erotic stage shows and the odd adult-orientated movie.

It was at this stage in her career that Heather Sweet would forever be known as Dita Von Teese. But despite the nay sayers and poo-pooers, Dita would soon be very famous indeed...

As her erotic shows became more popular, she started to perform at functions and parties by the time she was into her early 20s, her risky costumes and burlesque style were proving very popular with the fetishists.

She started to appear in the odd fetish magazine, and as time wore on she would eventually adorn the front covers of almost every fetish magazine on offer, including Marquis and Bizarre.

In 1997, Dita Von Teese was noticed by Playboy, which started to publish her photos. In a matter of months, Dita had become one of the most popular models for the adult Bunny magazine, to become know as a fetish queen.

Her popularity with American males boomed, and who were obviously quite taken with her classic Hollywood glamour, the like of which hasn't been seen since Bettie Page had every English-speaking male under her spell.

Dita appeared on the cover of Playboy magazine in December 2002, and went on to shoot some 30 pictorals for the much-maligned magazine as her celebrity status continued to soar, no doubt to the benefit of her hip pocket.

As is the way with many things in life, Dita's career came full circle - her biggest passion was still for her live shows, and it was these shows that seemed to be bringing in the big names. Her reputation for putting on a mind-blowing show was so good, that she performed with the likes of Charlize Theron, Christina Aguilera, Gwen Stephani, Carmen Electra, and Christina Applegate.

Back in the year 2000, Dita Von Teese entered into a relationship with the rocker many conservatives love to hate, Marilyn Manson. Then, in 2004, the goth rocker who is a make-up artists dream/nightmare come true, proposed to the Von Teese. She said yes, and the pair were betrothed at the Castle Gurteen in Ireland on the 3rd of December, 2005.

He wore a John Galliano-designed black silk taffeta tuxedo, finished with a Stephen Jones hat, while the burlesque bride wore a royal purple silk gown by Vivienne Westwood. Interestingly (but unsurprisingly) the ceremony was a nondenominational event, carried out by Manson's close friend, Chilean art house film director Alejandro Jodorowsky.

According to MTV.com, Dita laid down the law for Manson in terms of pre-wedding frolics, denying him the right to a bucks (bachelor) party: "I got f*cked out of a bachelor party, because — quite honestly, I have to agree with her — Dita said, 'Why should you have a bachelor party? That's your whole life.

"'What are you going to do, get drunk and look at naked women?' And I guess that's what I do every day," confessed the popular artist.

Such a high-profile relationship has done nothing to harm Dita's celebrity status, and today the burlesque beauty is working hard on a number of projects, including stage and photography work, which are sure to provoke and titillate and - dare I say it? - tease. But when everything's said and done, I don't think that she'd have it any other way...