Dita Von Teese Quotes

1. I studied my books and my pictures of Bettie Page, and I realized that her looks weren't the thing that made her popular (or any of my other heroes, for that matter). It was her chameleon-like persona: she was sweet and innocent on the one hand, and then she could turn around and be a bad girl. I love that. The '50s femme fatale, the contradiction every man adores.


2. What modern day burlesquer hasn't been influenced by Sally Rand? My own pink ostrich fans - designed by Catherine, naturally - were the largest fans on any stage in the world (even I must up the ante). They are absolutely stunning! Made with four graduated shades of pink and hundreds of rose-colored crystals, they measure seven feet across and weigh 2.3 pounds each.

3. If it were just about looks, I probably wouldn't be the most famous burlesque star in the world, because I'm sure that I'm not the most beautiful one.



4. Ignore the critics...Only mediocrity is safe from ridicule. Dare to be different!

5. I think as someone who collects beautiful things from the past, the thing that I miss the most about modernism and the things I lament about the past are everyday things that you would use were made more beautifully.





6. The new acts' major influences were movies and their curvy queens Brigitte Bardot and Marilyn Monroe. With their big blonde hair, ample breasts, and highly fertile hips, these bombshells inspired women everywhere to exaggerate their own voluptuousness.

7. How can someone have a problem with me when they will pay to see a film where an actress shows a nipple?

8. I'd say the only time I ever get nervous is around great ballet dancers or people I really admire.

9. It's not about seducing men, it's about embracing womanhood.

10. Corsetry is a body modification.

11. Some people like to tell me that America guttered burlesque, that it was a well-intentioned visitor to New York promptly debased by horny blue-collar workers with drinking problems. An amusing interpretation, and a little bit true. But if you look more closely, you will find that the revered father of burlesque, a playwright of fifth century B.C. Athens, had his head in the proverbial gutter long before there was anything but forests and teepees in America.

12. I've had a lot of arguments with myself over this, but I think that if I were Nicole Kidman, and I were in a movie, and they were negotiating over my body parts - what my t... are worth, what my a... is worth, how much extra money that's going to get me - how is that any different?

13. The prosecutor uttered the party line that would distinguish revue from burlesque for the next thirty years. The difference is movement. On Broadway, unadorned female figures are used to artistic advantage in tableaux. They do not move.

14. I was always intrigued by the idea of bringing things together that are considered taboo or risque and bringing them together with something of high elegance and sophistication.

15. I sometimes think: Wouldn't it be great if I could go back to those moments when I could walk out on the strip-club stage and just let it all go.

16. Some days are just bad days, that's all. You have to experience sadness to know happiness, and I remind myself that not every day is going to be a good day, that's just the way it is!

17. When sexuality, style, humor and playfulness all come together, along with a bit of innocence, well, that's when a burlesque show becomes great.

18. But I'm not the girl who changes into flats because my feet are tired at the end of the night. I go the distance. I go all the way.

19. Every man wants to be with the American pinup. I want to be her.

20. We're strippers. I'm not ashamed of being a stripper. Gypsy Rose Lee was called a stripper; it's not a bad word. It's where modern-day striptease started. It's the same thing, it's just a different kind of styling, and maybe there were a little more theatrics involved, a little more glamour.

21. I'm not always in a full face of make-up! That's actually one of the things I like about make-up - that you can strip it away and show your vulnerability.




22. I like the process of knowing, when the curtains open on this big, expensive, elaborate, fabulous show, I did all the creative parts of it. I'm not just a girl taking off her clothes to music.

23. I'm more of an exaggerator than a liar.

24. I keep reading about all of these movies coming out and quotes from people saying: "We don't take off our clothes - we're classy. It's like burlesque without the strip." And I'm like what are you talking about? There is no burlesque without the strip. The trick is can you be classy, sophisticated, elegant AND take off your clothes?

25. It's not being the girl in the show what my main talent is, believe it or not...The reason I think people notice my shows is the creative part of it, not that I’m the prettiest girl or the best dancer or the youngest.

26. I advocate glamour. Every day. Every minute.

27. I don't put myself above (strippers). I used to work alongside strippers and pole dancers. In fact I miss it.





28. I'm a designer, producer and I am hands-on for every project I undertake. The creative side of what I do is really something I think people overlooked for a while.

29. I like what I do, I enjoy the creative process of conceptualizing, building and starring in my shows, and acting doesn't really allow me the control and creativity I love. Maybe that means I will always be lesser-known than movie stars, reality tv show stars, tv actresses and pop stars, but frankly, I don't mind.

30. I don't feel I have an alter ego.




31. I don't understand why women feel the need to go into acting as soon as they become famous.

32. I make a point to never, ever point out my physical flaws…this is advice I give to women as often as I can. People don't notice the things we see in ourselves that we hate, so why direct them to it?

33. It's very satisfying to be perhaps the only celebrity without a stylist that manages to make it on the best dressed lists.



34. I can't stand wearing the same clothes all day. It makes me insane. I like to dress for the afternoon and for dinner.

35. Hip clothes and shoes and handbags can drive a woman wild. I think it's even stronger than sex for some."






36. Me personally, I want to entertain people above all. When you look back at burlesque in history and the real golden age of burlesque, those entertainers were there to entertain, and there wasn't usually some big political message behind what they were doing.

37. My look and my style is a combination of inspiration from many things, and from decades of my own personal evolution.





38. I feel empowered by the fact that I can look the way that I do on stage and in photos - I can look that way any time I want. And I feel like it's important message to other women that they can do it, too.

39. I would rather look at someone who has overdone it than someone who is wearing sweatpants and a T-shirt. I love when you see an old woman who's been wearing her makeup and hair the same way for 40 years.

40. I've always loved the idea of not being what people expect me to be.

41. The most prolific women in fashion are not "of the moment," they dare to be different and have distinctive style that does not change from season to season, it only evolves.



42. Well, when I was fifteen years old I worked in a lingerie store and that's how I feel in love with vintage lingerie because I wanted to know the history of it.

43. I once second guessed my instincts and had a stylist come over to my house and help me go through my vintage collection with me, and I remember she picked up a beautiful pair of 1930's shoes and said: "these would look SO cute with jeans" and that was the moment I realized that she knew nothing about me (I don't even own jeans) and that I was best off staying true to my own personal style rather than let someone else tell me what is right and what is wrong, and putting her own tastes on me.

44. I like styling girls that don't normally dress in vintage clothes and don't normally wear red lipstick; I like seeing those kind of girls restyled in a retro way.

45. Marlene Dietrich...knew her own style and took risks and wore pants when people said it wasn't glamorous and was a terrible thing for a woman to do. She had a signature style. Greta Garbo, too. They embraced their own cliché and their persona, and I love that. Women love to dress up now, but I feel like there aren't a lot of risk-takers.

46. Thanks to my mother, people tell me I look younger than I am, especially without make-up. And I suppose my father had a part in making me more frugal with my money.



47. You can't dictate to a woman what should make her feel sexy.

48. Every one of my products - my lingerie, my perfume, and everything that I do beauty-related with regard to building my burlesque shows - is just me.


49. I think it's bad manners to stand around in public with ripped jeans and your hair in a mess, holding a Starbucks.

50. When I started performing, there was no Internet; I didn't really have anything to copy. I kind of had to just make up what I thought burlesque was, based on photographs of Sally Rand or whatever.

51. If I go out to a club, I wear a hat and gloves and maybe a corset, and people look at me because I'm not wearing a short Paris Hilton dress or a dress cut down to my navel.


52. I have a lot of Burberry items at home, including one dress that I loved so much that I had my living room painted to match because the color was so flattering.

53. If I admire someone, I prefer to see them at their best. I don't want to see a woman that I think of as glamorous in the grocery store wearing sweatpants and a ripped T-shirt.


54. Yes, but more than being a designer, I'm more of a stylist, because I don't sew and I don't sketch, but I'm good at putting things together, choosing things that are chic and glossing over the aesthetics of things.

55. I was very upset that I couldn't wear my Easter Sunday dress or my Christmas dresses all the time. It didn't make sense to me that I couldn't wear something pretty all the time. So I began plotting my womanhood at a young age.

56. I want to remind people of a different kind of glamour, a different look, and breaking the rules of fashion. I wanna break the rules.

57. It's nice to be comfortable, but I'd rather be uncomfortable.

58. When I was a little girl, I watched all old movies. My mother liked old movies, and she loved shopping for antiques, so I was around old things all the time.

59. I only take criticism seriously when it comes from someone that I admire.




60. I like having my cellphone. I like the Internet. I like being different.

61. I've been called anti-feminist before and it makes me really mad. I don't do my job for men, I do it because I love the make-up, the costumes and the history of showgirls.

62. I don't have long-standing regrets; they pass as I see how things are meant to be.





63. Don't save your good lingerie for dates, wear it for YOU.

64. I prefer the competitive atmosphere of a classroom setting, like yoga or Pilates. That keeps me going. Although performing on stage is great exercise!

65. True sexiness has many facets. The elements include things like confidence, strength, intelligence, and humor.

66. When things get you down, make the best of your own life rather than worrying about what everyone else thinks.

67. People have always been interested in sex. There have been periods where there was more censorship, but you can find explicit hardcore pornography from the invention of the camera.

68. I love glamour and artificial beauty. I love the idea of artifice and dressing up and makeup and hair.

69. The great seductresses in history knew that it isn't just about trying to look sexy or pretty; it's an art and one becomes skillful in it when she realizes that there are all these conflicting elements that all come together to make something magical.

70. I like when people know who they are, know their limitations and what they want to do. It's the same thing for me.





71. You either wear a very matte lipstick that's very dry and doesn't bleed, like MAC Ruby Roo or Russian Red, or you wear something that's shiny and you look at it every, like, half hour to make sure it's OK. There's not really a secret. There's no trick!

72. Okay, so now I'm this famous fetish model, I'm going to be the best fetish model I can be. And when I was working in the strip clubs I thought, I'm going to be the best headlining stripper that I can be.

73. One guy paid me $5,000 to make a film where another girl hits me in the face with a cream pie. If you have never taken a cream pie in the face, it is the best thing ever. It's pee your pants funny, the most fun you can have sober!

74. I have been obsessed with seamed stockings my whole life, and I would collect vintage ones that were made in the '40s and '50s with the authentic styling of the keyhole, the welt, the reinforced toe and heels, French or Cuban heels, and hand-stitched seams.

75. (on Marilyn Manson) I've lost my luggage before and not had my makeup, and he's lost his luggage and not had his makeup - so it's great that we're always covered.

76. I always get billed as "Dita", internationally known fetish supermodel I'm really a small town girl from Michigan who has a good laugh that being a fancy-pants stripper got me here! Some people say what I do isn't very liberating. I say it's pretty liberating to get $20,000 for 10 minutes work.

77. (on Marilyn Manson) I had all the faith in the world in our relationship for the seven years we were together. I loved him very much, and when I married him I completely believed it would be forever. But that's not what happened.


78. When people say I look intimidating, it's hard for me to relate to. I hear that a lot. I don't know why.

79. Don't underestimate the cosmetic power of sunglasses. It's worth spending a bit of money on a quality pair. I usually go for Dior or Louis Vuitton.

80. (on Marilyn Manson) I  basically lived with Mommie Dearest for six years.




81. The truth is that I am very ordinary blonde girl from Michigan.

82. (on Marilyn Manson) I wasn't supportive of his partying or his relationship with another girl. As much as I loved him I wasn't going to be part of that.

83. I really enjoy watching people like Madonna, or Cher, or Barbra Streisand on the red carpet. I want to see people wearing exciting things that are different and to know that they're not just looking for the latest, most normal thing.

84. (on Marilyn Manson) I think it's unfortunate that (Manson has) had to exploit our divorce for the sake of record sales, but you do what you gotta do, I suppose. I think most people at this point understand what happened and what they're dealing with when he's doing interviews drunk and offering journalists cocaine. It kind of tells you what I might have been up against. I'm just trying to put it past me, I'm happy to be a single girl and have that drama out of my life.

85. I never ever wanted to be a little girl, ever. When a lot of friends were into the whole schoolgirl fantasy, I was always like, I wouldn't be caught dead. I'm 35 years old. I'm not 19 years old anymore, playing around with different looks. I know who I am and I've known for a long time.

86. I don't work with a stylist, I don't work with a glam squad to get me together for the red carpet, I really enjoy the time it takes to do it myself, to choose my clothes and do my own makeup and my own hair.

87. (on Marilyn Manson) I know I'll fall in love again. And I know that I loved him (Manson) enough to try and help.

88. I feel better about myself when I look my best. I always find the time to put on my powder and do my chignon.




89. I don't think I'm better than the pole dancers.

90. (on Marilyn Manson) Neither of us is ready. I don't feel that we need to have children to validate our marriage and I don't need children to claim I'm a fulfilled woman.

91. I was really, really shy when I was a little girl.




92. You can be the ripest, juiciest peach in the world, and there's still going to be somebody who hates peaches.

93. Anyone who says they don't like to receive a gift is lying.

94. I really believe that beauty comes from health - sensible eating and exercise.

95. Physical beauty isn't so impressive to me.

96. Red lips don't look good on blotchy, uneven skin.

97. I think the beauty looks I most regret are those I was persuaded into.

98. So I have the green smoothie every day for breakfast, and then sometimes even for lunch too, and then I have a normal dinner.

99. As a little girl growing up in a small farming town in Michigan, my idols were women like Marlene Dietrich and Rita Hayworth.





100. People who follow all the rules and chase every trend tend to get forgotten - they look great, but they're not as memorable.

101. I started dressing vintage when I was a teenager because I didn't have money for designer clothes.








102. My beauty icons are women whose images are self-created.

103. I suppose women are attracted to the bad-boy image sometimes because it's fun to have an adventure. It's like eating junk food…it's fun at the time, but ultimately not the best choice.


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